Aussies can now retroactively change the gender on their birth certificate in one state – even before gender-change surgery – and hundreds have already done it.
Nearly 250 Queenslanders, including 11 children, have applied to legally change the gender on their birth certificate after changes to the relevant law, the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023, kicked in on June 24.
These changes removed the requirement for people to undergo sexual reassignment surgery before formally registering a change of gender.
The law also allows for the gender of a child under the age of 16 to be changed through a parental application or by going through the Children’s Court.
A birth certificate is a legal document giving legal and official recognition to the person’s identified gender in Queensland.
One month after the updated law came into action 247 applications had been filed regarding the changing of genders and 142 have been completed so far.
Two-thirds of the completed applications regarded male-to-female changes, another quarter female-to-male, and less than 10 per cent were to another gender term.
Under these new laws two same-sex parents or just the term ‘parent’ can also be listed on a birth certificate for a child – less than 10 applications have been filed for this so far.
Children under 16 can now change their gender on their birth certificate in Queensland
Emily Wells, 61, who lives in Tennant Creek, was one of the first to apply to change their birth certificate.
‘It’s really hard to explain the euphoria. To me, it’s corrected something that was done wrong 60 years ago,’ Ms Wells told the Courier Mail.
Ms Wells, who has been trying to officially change her gender since 2004, received her amended birth certificate on July 5.
She said she was in discussion with state government for seven years before she was able to hand in her application.
‘When I got the certificate, it finally meant that I have that last piece of legal document that confirms who I am,’ she said.
‘I was part of the campaign, and you had to be open and out there … but the reason why I did it and why I’ve pushed for it is for future generations because it’s going to help so many people, particularly younger trans people.’
Emily Wells, 61, who lives in Tennant Creek, was one of the first to apply to change their birth certificate after Queensland updated its laws on June 24
Ms Wells predicted that there would be thousands of applications in due time.
The chief executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, said Queensland was one of the later states to get rid of ‘cruel and outdated’ legal barriers to identification
‘The fact that hundreds of people have already applied to change their birth certificate to reflect who they really are shows how important this is to some people and how long they have waited,’ Mr Brown told the publication.
