Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transitioning => Legal Matters => Topic started by: Sarah leah on May 10, 2016, 06:00:30 AM

Title: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Sarah leah on May 10, 2016, 06:00:30 AM
Hi everybody,


As the title states I was born in the UK and moved to South Australia in 1991 but remain a UK citizen on my mums passport as well as a permanent resident of Australia.

How do I get my birth certificate changed to reflect Female rather than the current Male.


Sadly all I could find was this info:

Quote
As of 1 July 2013, the Australian government has adopted the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender which standardise the evidence required to establish or change your sex or gender in all personal records held by Australian Government departments and agencies.  These guidelines specifically state:


"Sex reassignment surgery and/or hormone therapy are not pre-requisites for the recognition of a change of gender in Australian Government records."

All Australian Government departments and agencies are required to progressively align their existing and future business practices with these Guidelines by 1 July 2016.This includes Centrelink, Medicare, the Passport Office, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Roads and Traffic Authorities, Police and any other Australia government departments.

To correct your sex marker with any Australian Government department or agency all you need is any one of the following:


a) a statement from a Registered Medical Practitioner or a Registered Psychologist (general registration) or
b) a valid Australian Government travel document, such as a valid passport, which specifies your preferred gender or
c) a state or territory birth certificate; or recognised details of a certificate showing your preferred gender.


Yet another document states this:

Quote
Australia
South Australia
The Sexual Reassignment Act 1988 provides for applications to an authorised magistrate for
the issue of a recognition certificate. The individual must have had a reassignment procedure
carried out in South Australia, and the magistrate must be satisfied that the person believes that
his or her true sex is the sex to which the person has been reassigned, and has received proper
counselling in relation to his/her sexual identity. 'Reassignment procedure' means a medical or
surgical procedure (or a combination of both) to alter genitals and other sexual characteristics
so that the person will be identified as a person of the opposite sex. Applicants must be
unmarried. A recognition certificate may be issued either if the person's birth is registered in
South Australia or the reassignment procedure was carried out in South Australia. The
magistrate must also be satisfied that the person has adopted the lifestyle and sexual
characteristics of the sex to which he/she has been reassigned. If the applicant is a child the
magistrate must be satisfied that the change of sex is in the best interests of the child. The
recognition certificate is legally conclusive of the person's sex. The statute also provides that if
a person has a recognition certificate or an equivalent certificate from elsewhere the registrar
must alter the registers where relevant.Under the Sex Reassignment Regulations 2000 applications must be accompanied by a sworn medical practitioner's affidavit relating to the reassignment procedure and an affidavit sworn by a psychiatrist or psychologist relating to the counselling received. The registrar must keep a register of reassignments of sex.


Now they contradict each other it seems and yet to get a change from M to F I need this recognition thing to get the UK to change my birth certificate!!!!!


What the.... :icon_confused2:


Anyone dealt with this before.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Cindy on May 10, 2016, 06:09:18 AM
I know it is silly but:
Are you married?

If not have you been through a medically supervised gender change?

If you can say no to married and yes to supervised transition, you ask your medic for a form letter saying you are now female. Then you fill in the UK documents and send them off.

If you need to go to a magistrate court for a gender marker change it is again just presenting the letter.

I think I know your therapist and he will do the letter and guide you.

Hopefully in a few months it will all change as we have a bill in parliament to change it all.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Ms Grace on May 10, 2016, 06:18:18 AM
There is a member here with a UK birth certificate who lives in Australia. So far she has only changed her name, she did that via Births, Deaths and Marriages but I'm not sure of the logistics. If UK law is anything like the law in some Australian states you may not be able to change the marker until after GRS.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Cindy on May 10, 2016, 06:20:52 AM
You don't need GRS in SA just a letter confirming gender.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Ms Grace on May 10, 2016, 06:56:41 AM
But if it's a UK certificate does UK law cover that?
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Cindy on May 10, 2016, 10:15:05 AM
It is a really dumb situation, the U.K. Won't act to over rule the local country's same sex marriage thing, so if the op is single there is no problem.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Sarah leah on May 10, 2016, 05:27:50 PM
Quote from: Cindy on May 10, 2016, 06:09:18 AM
I know it is silly but:
Are you married?

If not have you been through a medically supervised gender change?

If you can say no to married and yes to supervised transition, you ask your medic for a form letter saying you are now female. Then you fill in the UK documents and send them off.

If you need to go to a magistrate court for a gender marker change it is again just presenting the letter.

I think I know your therapist and he will do the letter and guide you.

Hopefully in a few months it will all change as we have a bill in parliament to change it all.

Hi Cindy.

No I never got married. At this stage I am just getting prepared for all the legal aspects of my transition so I understand it all and can get the ball rolling by the end of the year. Currently I am in the process of commencing with HRT in late June early July although I have been living in the grey area for 4 months so I am keen to have everything ready as I work with vulnerable young people and need to present ID at Hospitals, court houses and with FSA etc.
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Cindy on May 10, 2016, 06:14:55 PM
Possibly the way to go then is first get your name change, that allows you to change your driving licence, medicare card, passport, and police checks for working with vulnerable people. The birth certificate is pretty well irrelevant for all of that (I've never shown mine to anyone!).

You can change your name whenever you wish, just google name change in SA and it tells you how.

For the others to change your gender marker you need a letter from Dr Lyons saying that you are undergoing a medically supervised transition to your affirmed female gender and for your documents to be changed appropriately. It is a form letter that everyone gets on request with just the names are changed about who it concerns.

The two good ones to change is the driving licence and passport as they then become your official ID for everything else.

Hopefully that should clear up any work issues. 
Title: Re: I live in Australia but born in the UK. How do I fix my gender marker?
Post by: Sarah leah on May 11, 2016, 06:59:10 AM
Thank you so much that clears a lot of it up :)