Mon 7 Jul 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Louisa Wall says Collins has contradicted herself and let down the community A disappointed Louisa Wall says Justice Minister Judith Collins’ scuttling in of her bid to have gender identity specifically included in the Human Rights Act is an “insult” to the community, and is promising a Labour government would sort it out. The Labour MP’s supplementary order paper to alter the wording of the Human Rights Act has been discarded. Wall says Collins has deemed the move both “unnecessary and controversial”. It’s the latest setback in efforts to ensure transgender and intersex people are protected from discrimination in New Zealand. Advocates have been stymied by an untested 2006 Crown Law opinion that gender identity is already covered, as the Human Rights Act protects against discrimination on the grounds of sex. This opinion caused then Labour MP Georgina Beyer to remove her bill which would have plainly included gender identity as a protected ground. A Human Rights Commission Inquiry has since found that the act needs to specifically refer to gender identity rather than rely on inclusion under 'sex discrimination'. Advocates say there is no guarantee that the Human Rights Act in its current form will be interpreted as including gender identity. Louisa Wall says she first asked Collins to include gender identity within ‘sex’ discrimination under the Human Rights Act if a Statutes Amendment Bill was introduced. The Bill is designed to deal with short, technical and non-controversial amendments. “Before she even replied the Government introduced a Statutes Amendment Bill and there was no such inclusion,” Wall says, explaining this was why she put forward a Supplementary Order Paper including it herself. “Judith Collins then responded that she did not agree with its inclusion because she did not think it was necessary and that it would attract public debate and was therefore controversial,” Wall says. She points out that in essence, according to Collins, ‘gender identity’ is already included in the Human Rights Act. "I believe the Minister has conveniently contradicted herself and let down the community and her own department, the Human Rights Commission,” Wall says. "Having stated gender identity is already included it is ridiculous to decline to support the amendment that reflects that because it is controversial. The Minister is pandering to people who want to revisit homosexual law reform and who erroneously think gender identity is not included. For those people, the inclusion of gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination is controversial." Wall says Collins’ lack of support for her move is an insult to the community and leaves trans and intersex people as “an invisible group” within the specific provisions of our discrimination laws. "When faced with questions by the United Nations, the Minister declared that our laws cover discrimination on the grounds of gender identity. When asked to merely support clarification of that fact, the Minister suddenly determines it is not necessary and controversial." Wall says under a Labour government, the amendment to explicitly refer to "gender identity" will be part of the party’s legislative agenda. "The positive outcome of this process is that it has mobilised the community and I look forward to working with the community to achieve specific recognition in the law that gender identity is a prohibited ground of discrimination.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 7th July 2014 - 5:39pm