In January 2006, a transgender woman in New South Wales, known as G, applied to change the sex on her birth certificate to female.



She had been on hormone therapy for six years, changed her name on all identity documents, and been issued a passport with her sex marked female. In 2005 she had also gotten married, to a woman.

Under NSW law, transgender people must meet four criteria to change their legal sex: be over 18; have their birth registered in the state; have undergone gender affirmation surgery; and be unmarried.

G met the first three, but not the last, and her application was rejected by the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry. Further attempts in 2008 and 2010 yielded the same result.

The reason for this unusual law was ostensibly to prevent same-sex marriages. If G changed her birth certificate, her marriage would be a legal one between two women — something that was not allowed under Australian federal law prior to December 9, 2017.

But now that same-sex marriage is legal, Australian states and territories must, within twelve months, abolish the "forced divorce" laws barring married transgender people like G from changing their legal sex.