Wed 25 Sep 2013 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
In a major and long-awaited victory for transgender rights campaigners the government is changing Corrections' rules to in future assign prisoners to the prison that matches their actual gender, not the gender or sex they were born with. Until now the policy for housing transgender prisoners has required them to have undergone "completed gender reassignment surgery" before they can be appropriately located. Corrections rules stated that prisoners "housed in male prisons are treated as male prisoners" and those "in female prisons are treated as female prisoners." Those whose who had not undergone surgery were therefore housed according to their birth sex. The result has been decades of incidents of abuse including rape and violence. The decision announced today was made by Cabinet following intense lobbying over several years by transgender advocates and glbti MPs, particularly lesbian Greens MP Jan Logie. Corrections minister Anne Tolley had been dismissive of the issue, saying it applied to only a few prisoners. National MP Maggie Barry infamously dismissed the problem as "a fringe issue." “This change will only affect a few people, but it will affect them deeply and keep them safe from the risk of sexual assault and rape,” Logie said today. “I have been pushing the Minister on this issue for some time and was so pleased to hear today that she has made the right call. “I congratulate the Minister and the Government for taking another step towards making sure transsexual and transgendered people have the rights they deserve." Logie says the state has a duty of care to people in prison and there is still more that needs to be done for trans people, "but this is one step in the right direction." “We still need to ensure that trans people in prison have access to the right medical treatment." And, she says, "everyone has the right to live safe from violence and discrimination. ” There is no indication yet as to when the change will take effect.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 25th September 2013 - 8:18pm