Justice Minister Simon Power The Government has taken the stance that a law change "is unnecessary at this time" in response a question about putting an explicit reference to gender identity in the Human Rights Act, to remove all doubt about transgender people being protected from discrimination. Justice Minister Simon Power, who has human rights in his portfolio, has leaned on the same Crown Law opinion which in 2006 toppled an attempt by then-MP Georgina Beyer to make legislative change. He says the former Attorney General received legal advice clarifying that the Human Rights Act 1993 protects people from discrimination on the basis of 'sex' which includes gender. "There is nothing to suggest that this prohibited ground of discrimination would be construed so narrowly as to exclude trans people from protection," Power says. "A law change is unnecessary at this time." Progressive MP Jim Anderton put forward written questions in Parliament for Rainbow Wellington. The group has listed the need to complete and speed up the implementation of the 2008 Human Rights Commission's Transgender Inquiry To Be Who I Am, which calls for a clear reference to gender identity in the Act, among its priority issues heading into the election. It says transgender and intersex citizens continue to suffer discrimination in a range of ways and there is no justification for this situation to continue. Rainbow Wellington Chair Tony Simpson says a member came up with the initiative of presenting questions to the House after requests for Justice Minister Simon Power to report on the recommendations were 'unsatisfactory' and requests to the Prime Minister to state a Government position "elicited no response of any description". "An attempt to get a Select Committee report on amendments to the Human Rights Act to include transgender matters was aborted for reasons which have never been made clear, but which may have had something to do with the legal view that this is not an issue. "More recently the same objective has re-surfaced from within the trans community but it seems clear that there is no chance of any amending legislation at the present time. But even if such legislation is subsequently enacted that does not resolve matters. It would still require a test case or cases to find out where the boundaries lie in practice," he says. "My own view has been that in this and in others relating to the recommendations insofar as they remain unimplemented wholly or in part that the best way to go is for someone in the trans community or some other interested party to identify such a case or cases and to pursue these through the HRC in a manner similar to our own blood donation and McDonald's WiFi initiatives." You can read the rest of the questions and answers Rainbow Wellington put to the Government here, which include an update on the Counties Manukau DHB trans health review which is due to be released soon.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 26th July 2011 - 3:51pm