Back To the Main SiteSex Files Launch
Yesterday the Australian Human Rights Commission launched their Sex Files Report at Parliament House. Peter Hyndal was asked to speak at the launch alongside Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes, and Western Australian Senator Louise Pratt.
This is a copy of the speech that Peter presented.
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My name is Peter.
I am 36 years old.
I am a man.
Unfortunately, the Government disagrees.
The Government maintains that I am a woman.
Although I am a man, I have not always been a man. My birth was registered as female. And I lived the first 25 years of my life as a woman.
When I was a woman, my personal identity as a woman was unquestionably mine to ‘own’ without interference from Government.
Now that I am a man, my personal identity as a man is consistently interfered with by all levels of Government.
This is not the case in other countries. The United Kingdom for example, has provided me with a document stating that I am legally a man for all purposes under all UK law. Many other countries in the world also legally recognise me as a man. Which is great, and just, and right… but I don’t live in any of those countries. I live in Australia, I have done all my life, and my government, the Australian government, refuses to recognise me as a man.
I have lived in the ACT for almost 20 years, but the ACT will not recognise me as a man because I was born in NSW. And NSW will not recognise me as a man until I provide evidence that I have been sterilised.
I believe that I have a right to have my own identity recognised by my own government. I find it morally unjustifiable for any government to make my rights contingent upon my surgical sterilisation.
And so I am, officially, in no-man’s land.
Unofficially, the situation is even more complicated.
Without a nationally consistent, sensible approach, different agencies struggle to know how to deal with reality.
The taxation office recognises me as a man. The Family Assistance Office says that I am a woman. Centrelink not only refuses to recognise me as a man, but also insists that my heterosexual female partner is a lesbian. Medicare says that I am male – most of the time, but every now and then, they “turn me into a woman” so they can process specific claims that relate to procedures that apparently only women can have. My Australian Passport shows my sex as “male”, but was issued along with a letter stating that the Australian government does not believe that I am really male, and that I would be committing fraud if I ever used the Passport to identify myself as a man.
Whenever I have to provide ID – to open a bank account, to cash a cheque, or even to collect a parcel from the Post Office, the official documents that I can provide state that I am female.
Sometimes my ID is not accepted at all. The bank teller looks at me, and says “but that can’t be your ID – it says you are a woman!”. Mostly my ID is accepted – but only because I am prepared to cause a scene, to declare to the bank teller, and their supervisor, and the manager on duty, and everyone else waiting in the queue behind me, that “I am transsexual”. “Oh!, so he’s really a woman! I guess we should let her cash the cheque..”
Today is a very significant day for me – this report is the light at the end of the tunnel. It is the first step towards law reform that is long overdue. Law reform however, will only be achieved when governments actually act on these recommendations.
The day that government actually acts on these recommendations will be of even greater significance to me – because it will signal for the first time my government’s acknowledgement that I exist.
My story is not isolated – tens of thousands of other people with similar personal histories share these experiences. And there are hundreds of thousands more people out there, who are sex and gender diverse but have very different personal histories, who currently experience equivalent levels of hardship and uncertainty.
When governments act on these recommendations, the practical every day lives of all of us will be dramatically improved – forever.
2009 Sydney Mardi Gras
Our Entry in Mardi Gras was a raging success. We had 22 people show up on the day to march with us. We wore fantastic green t-shirts, had awesome placards, and made waves with the crowd, the other floats, and the commentators alike!
It was my first ever Mardi Gras, and the feeling of marching with 21 other trans people, genderqueers, and our friends and families while being cheered on by the crowd, was an incredibly empowering experience. We handed out hundreds of stickers that said “Gender Rights are Human Rights” and lollipops with “Trannies are Sweet” written on them. Trans people and their supporters in the crowd screamed “I love trannies too!” at us from the sidelines, and we had post op FTM’s flash their scars at us.
I was thrilled to see the level of support for our community from other LGBT organisations, and from the wider community. Some people were obviously confused by our marching group, and our placards gave more than a few cause to pause and think about their preconceived notions of what a trans person looks like, and what they experience.
So, maybe next year YOU will be marching with us too! :)
Mardi Gras – Final Update
Mardi Gras is coming up this weekend. Here at A Gender Agenda, we’re in a tizz of excitement over it. There’s been a little less activity on our website recently, as we’ve been busy in real life organising the Gender Diversity BBQ, and our Mardi Gras entry.
This year A Gender Agenda are marching with Tranny Panic Art Project. They are providing the art, we’re providing promotion and awesome awesome t-shirts. If you want to join us, there is still time. We’ve got a facebook event, and you can email us for more details.
ATCOSS Information Forum
Spreading the word for ATCOSS:
The ACT Human Rights Act: What do recent changes mean for ACT Community
Organisations?In 2009 amendments made to the ACT Human Rights Act come into effect, that
specify that “public authorities” must act in a way that is compatible with
and gives proper consideration to human rights. There is a right to bring a
complaint against public authorities if they fail to do so.ACTCOSS is co-ordinating an information forum for ACT community
organisations on these changes to the ACT Human Rights Act, and what they
may mean for community organisations.The ACT Human Rights Commission will provide an overview of the changes, and
other speakers will deliver information about possible impacts on your
organisation.Where: Room 6, Griffin Centre, Genge St Canberra City
When: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pmLight refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to Brooke McKail on 6202 7222 or brooke.mckail@actcoss.org.au
Brooke McKail
Policy and Development Officer
ACT Council of Social Service Inc. (ACTCOSS)
Progressive Advertising
Yesterday we posted about a transphobic advertisement from the UK. Today I wanted to post something much more pleasant.
This video is an advertisement for an Argentinian bank, and features a trans woman. I say, good on Banco Provincia! May they get throngs of new customers for this!
Transcript after the cut.
(Read on …)
Book Review: As Nature Made Him
Today we have our first guest post! Its a book review from AbbeyJane.
Abbey is a well known face in the local Sex and Gender Diverse community, she has helped organise NewCTN for years, and has been instrumental in uniting the trans-boys and trans-girls, who until recently had not had much at all to do with one another. She’s heaps of fun, and I hope that she’ll go on to write many more things for our blog.
Here’s the review.
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As Nature Made Him: the Boy who was raised as a Girl
by John Colapinto
Not heard of this book? Not heard of Dr John Money either?
Well you should go out and get this book a read it and read it you must for it displays a truth about not only the field of psychology but about humans themselves. Which is it that dictates a person, what is it that influences how a child grows up and become? Is it Nature versus Nurture?
I finished reading this book with a sadness. But was at first revolted by the level thinking going on in the field of psychology and still is going on now, as shown. I was appalled by the intensity and sheer bloody-minded personality of Dr Money to force things and people to his way of thinking, and his pettiness and childishness in responding to anyone attempting to argue versus him.
I was equally appalled by the gross sheepish thinking going on by people at the time and to some extent a thinking that still exists. They remain so unaware that their advisory status has the ability to deny true happiness and to destroy the life of the most youngest of children, a most vulnerable section of our population.
It makes you think carefully about the Nature versus Nurture statement. I was appalled by the unquestioning behaviours of people but buoyed by the words of Dr Diamond and his peers whom fight to stop the old ways in favour of a new approach to intersexed individuals.
This book is primarily not about intersexed people, it is about an experiment that should never ever have been allowed to take place, the background that led to the experiment being undertaken and the failure of this experiment despite it having been repeated more than once.
I won’t spoil the story for you but say this; Yes you will feel a range of emotions bought on by the contents, and yes you will feel a sense of relief too at the ‘time of print’ outcome for the experiments’ subject and his family, but at no time forget this happened to a real living person, not some fictional character. This family exists and so does the badness and the goodness too. Let the book fill you will an energy too; the urge to not let other people make a mistake of rushing into any decisions first without careful consideration and neutral consultations over extended periods of time. It reminds me to never just blindly accept the advice of any ‘one expert or experts’, and to acknowledge that who is it that knows your best, you or the expert!
It will also cause you to think about Nature Versus Nurture.
I’m a supporter of the Nature, its born into us, and no matter what Nurture does, Nature will always reveal a person for who and how they truly are. You can learn and yes be guided however ultimately you cannot overcome how you were always meant to be. Perhaps cold comfort but you can always find a middle ground without it and yourself being inflexible.
There is a copy of this book in the ACT Library Service, its catalogue code is 305.9066 Cola.
Cheers
AbbeyJane
Annual Report 2008
2008 was a great year for A Gender Agenda.
We had lots of new members join, including yours truly. We also made friends with the New Canberra Transgender Network, which means that we shall be more aware of trans women’s issues, and they shall be more aware of trans men. We held a combined Christmas party in December that saw record numbers of the Canberra sex and gender diverse community get together and socialise. We all had an awesome time, at a very pleasant restaurant. We even had visitors from Sydney and Wollongong come all the way down to hang out with us.
We made a submission to HREOC’s Sex and Gender Diversity project, and participated in their community consultation. Although we were disappointed in the decided focus of HREOC’s project, we look forward to seeing the recommendations that are made to the Federal government. We will be continuing to lobby the ACT Government to improve things in the ACT for the sex and gender diverse community.
A small delegation of our members attended a workshop in Sydney called “Gender Dysphoria to Gender Euphoria: Working Towards Gender Belonging”. (Leaflet can be downloaded from here). The workshop was held at the AIDS Council of New South Wales, and was conducted by Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad & Elsa Almas from Norway. The workshop was extremely inspiring, and we hope to hold something similar here in Canberra later this year.
In November we participated in SpringOut, the Canberra LGBTIQ Community Pride Festival. We had a stall next to NewCTN at the Fair Day, and held several events during the festival, including a film night, a Picnic/BBQ and a candle lit ceremony for Transgender Day of Remembrance. At the end of the festival, our Co-ordinator Peter Hyndal won an ACT Pride Award for his work with AGA, and contribution to forwarding trans rights and building a vibrant gender diverse community.
November also saw us launch a community survey in an attempt to learn more about the face of the ACT Sex and Gender Diverse community. We had 93 responses, which was far more than we expected, especially since we know that not all members of AGA or NewCTN actually filled in the survey. This has increased our estimate of the number of sex and gender diverse people in Canberra and the surrounding region to several hundred. It is clear that medical and other services are not nearly adequate, and we hope to be able to use the data we gathered to apply for a Health Pact grant to allow us investigate further how services in the ACT can be improved for the Sex and Gender Diverse community.
2009 looks to be an even bigger year, and I hope to see new faces at our events. If you would like to get involved in A Gender Agenda, or be notified of our events, don’t forget to subscribe to the Blogs RSS feed, or send an email to events-subscribe@agenderagenda.org.au to our join our email list.
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