[Australia] ACT marriage bill “excludes” intersex people

[Amelia Pond]

ACT marriage bill "excludes" intersex people
Serkan Ozturk, October 21, 2013

The ACT Government has come under fire after making last-minute amendments that will exclude transgender and intersex people from gaining the right to marry to a proposed marriage equality bill only a day before it is due to become law.

Representatives of Organisation Intersex International (OII) Australia have called on lobby group Australian Marriage Equality (AME) to include intersex people on its board and represent their needs more adequately after the territory government came to the decision to exclude transgender and intersex people in its bill following legal advice from AME over the weekend. Attorney-General Simon Corbell confirmed the amendments at around midday on Monday.

The bill, expected to pass ACT's Parliament after it is introduced on Tuesday, will now be referred to as the 'Marriage Equality – Same-Sex Bill' and will only apply to people marrying someone of the same sex – not to transgender people or those who do not identify as either 'male' or 'female'. Legal advice from AME suggests if a new category of 'same-sex marriage' is not created, the legislation will find it difficult to fight off a planned High Court challenge by the Federal Government.