Speak Up For Women Campaigns
Sex Self-ID: The BDMRR Bill Campaign
The Issue In Brief
On 10 August 2018 the Governance and Administration Select Committee proposed amendments to the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act (known as the BDMRR Bill).
The proposal means that any person can change the sex recorded on their birth certificate, by a simple administrative process. There is no need for any medical evidence or even a change in appearance.
These changes were not signalled when the Bill was first introduced to Parliament, and have not been the subject of proper policy analysis, impact studies or public consultation.
Speak Up For Women campaigned against the sex self-ID provisions within the Bill.
Our campaign was ultimately successful, as the Minister for Internal Affairs deferred the Bill in 2019, following advice from Crown Law.
The advice received confirmed the concerns Speak Up For Women raised during our campaign:
- There had not been public consultation
- The proposed changes would impact the protected category of “sex,” intended to protect women from discrimination under the Human Rights Act
- The proposed changes will affect data gathering, reporting and the integrity of records for things such as crime, health and monitoring sex-based discrimination such as the pay gap