This article was originally published by the OUTInPerth. You can find the original article here.
Activist group Queer Liberation Boorloo have announced they’ll hold a rally for transgender rights in the Northbridge Piaza on Sunday 11th August.
The event will take place between 1:00pm and 2:00pm with speakers to be announced in due course. The rally will call on the Cook government to listen to the needs of the local community as it progresses its changes to the Gender Reassignment Board through the parliament.
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“We understand a number of MPs will be moving amendments, and we need to show our collective strength in calling on the Government to support the amendments that out community is seeking, so we can have access to best-practice gender recognition processes in Western Australia.” the group said.
WA Labor committed to abolishing the Board at their state conference in 2017. The impending changes were also recommended by the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia in 2018, to bring our state in line with other jurisdictions around the nation.
Progress on changing the laws has been slow with the Births, Deaths, Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Bill 2024 which will repeal the Gender Reassignment Act 2000 and introduce a new administrative process for sex and gender recognition only being introduced into parliament in recent months.
LGBTIQA+ rights advocates were hoping it would have been debated in Legislative Assembly before the winter break, but while the legislation appeared on the agenda MPs ran out of time to discuss it.
Activists argue that the government’s legislation falls short of the standard introduced in other Australian jurisdictions, and they would like to see the removal of the medicalisation of the process, more flexibility for older teens, and full self-identification without the need for declarations from medical staff or counsellors.
Find all the details for the rally on Facebook.