BDMRR Bill (self-ID for birth certificate sex)

Proposed Supplementary Order Paper to affirm sex-based exceptions under Human Rights Act

We are a non-partisan network of New Zealanders concerned about the implications of “self-ID” for sex recorded on birth certificates. Under the proposal, a person may change their birth certificate sex via a simple administrative process, involving a statutory declaration that they “identify” as a person of the opposite sex. There is no longer any need for medical evidence, physical change, or even a change in appearance.

We recognise and respect the right of transgender people to live their lives in their chosen identity, and we understand why having a birth certificate consistent with that identity is important to them. We support the stated purpose of the Bill, which is to relieve transgender people of the burden of the existing costly and bureaucratic Family Court process.

But we believe there are rights and interests of other people that must also be taken into account. The Human Rights Act 1993 contains a number of hard-won protections for women and girls. These protections recognise that women face sex-based inequality and that sex segregation is, in certain contexts, important for reasons of safety, privacy, and dignity (among other reasons). For example, the Human Rights Act protects:

Separate public facilities/services for each sex, on the ground of public decency or safety (ss 43, 46)

Sex-segregated services (e.g. counselling for highly personal issues) (ss 27(4), 45 and 59)

The ability to restrict certain jobs to people of one sex, where that is a genuine occupational qualification, to preserve reasonable privacy, or on religious grounds (ss 27, 28)

Single sex accommodation (e.g. hostels, hospitals, schools) (s 55)

Single sex schools (s 58)

Sex-segregated sports where strength, stamina or physique is relevant (s 49)

The BDMRR Bill provides that despite the self-ID provisions, a person’s sex must “continue to be determined by reference to the general law of New Zealand.”

We ask Members of Parliament to support a Supplementary Order Paper (draft attached) that clarifies this and affirms the existing sex-based protections under the Human Rights Act 1993.

We respectfully remind our representatives that a petition (no. 2017/235) calling for consultation on the impact of self-ID attracted 1616 signatures in three weeks.