Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
Tasmania’s Upper House has passed nation-leading legislation that would end the punitive and entrenched bureaucratic discrimination against transgender people.
The passing of these amendments will fill many transgender Tasmanians and the people who love them, with hope.
These reforms not only remove barriers to legal recognition, they also send a strong message to a vulnerable community that their identity is valid, recognised and supported by the majority of Tasmanian parliamentarians.
These laws will only effect 1-2% of the population, their families and loved ones. The acceptance and equality they provide will help lessen the extremely high levels of mental illness and suicide within the trans community.
The will of both Houses of Tasmania’s Parliament has been heard, and the Liberal Government must listen.
This Bill was originally intended to be dealt with last November, and the Liberals’ ideologically driven delays left already vulnerable trans-Tasmanians in limbo for months.
The Attorney General must commit to debating the Upper House amendments next week.
Every day this continues without conclusion, anxiety and pain created by the often transphobic public debate places more vulnerable transgender Tasmanians, particularly young people, at risk.