Australian state to allow teenagers to change genders WITHOUT their parents' permission

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Queensland plans to make it easier for people to change the sex on their birth certificates.

Currently, if people in the state want to change the gender on their birth certificates, they would have to undergo reassignment surgery.

However, the new plans from the state Labor government, which are expected to pass comfortably, will drop the surgery requirement.

They would also allow new parents to not list any gender on the documents of their newborn baby.

Queensland plans to allow new parents to not have to list any gender on the documents of their newborn baby

Annastacia Palaszczuk's government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019.

Queensland's new law means that NSW is the only state still requiring people to undergo reassignment surgery before changing birth ­certificates.

One of the main motivations for the law change is the cost of reassignment surgery, which is not covered by Medicare and could cost about $80,000.

If the new plans are passed, several other changes will also come into force.

Children older than 16 will soon be able to legally self-identify as a different sex without parental consent, needing just a supporting statement from an adult who has known them for at least a year.

Meanwhile, children aged 12 to 15 will ­require their parents' permission to change their birth certificate.

However, they can still apply to the courts if their parents do not support them.

Queensland will also not require a medical statement from a doctor or psychologist - something that is needed in Western Australia and is already adopted in South ­Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory.

Despite being supportive of the plan, the Queensland Law Society has warned the changes to gender could lead to problems in the court.

Law Society president Kara Thompson said: 'We seek further clarification on how verification of identity processes are to be managed in the absence of a sex descriptor appearing on a person's birth certificate, where current procedures refer to 'gender'.

'Without further consideration of the distinction between the two concepts (sex and ­gender), especially as applied across the current Queensland statute book, there may be ­unintended consequences that flow from the implementation of the bill in its current form.'

Annastacia Palaszczuk's government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019

Sally Goldner, spokeswoman for LGBTIQ lobby group Just Equal, said reforms would ­reduce invasion of privacy and stress.

'The reform makes life fairer and easier for trans and gender- ­diverse people and reduces invasion of privacy and stress due not having to constantly 'tell your story' to total strangers,' she told the Australian. 

However, critics says self-identification would affect the right to privacy in female-only spaces such as toilets, change rooms and prisons.

The Australian Christian Lobby says the bill is: 'out-of-step with community expectations for parental rights and the safety of women'.

'This situation does not pass the 'pub test' and is viewed by many in the community as controversial and dangerous,' the lobby's Queensland political ­director, Rob Norman, wrote in a submission.

'Queenslanders have every right to question the granting of access for biological males to ­female-only spaces. This is neither transphobic nor irrational.'

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman slammed groups who 'will try to cloak their transphobia in the guise of women's safety'.

'I want to be clear: there is no evidence, domestically or internationally, to support these outrageous claims,' she said.

'I note the Australian Psychological Society has warned against casting undue suspicion on an ­individual's motives for stating a particular sex.'

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