Rainbow Families has been invited to contribute to reforms that would remove remaining laws that discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. The Equality Bill is an initiative of Independent MP Alex Greenwich and will be developed in consultation with the NSW government and opposition as well as the LGBTQ+ community.
This is an exciting opportunity to move closer to equality for us and our families. While there have been significant reforms at the state government level such as birth certificate recognition of non-birth mothers in 2009 and removing the ban on same-sex adoption in 2010, significant barriers to equality remain.
Key areas of reform proposed include removing carve-outs to anti-discrimination law that allow religious organisations to discriminate in the delivery of education, out of home care and other services; banning conversion practices; and removing legal barriers to trans people changing their birth certificate to reflect their gender.
You can be part of these important changes by telling us about your experiences in our survey. All responses will be treated confidentially and only de-identified information included in the submission will be de-identified.
Share your experiences here
In 2017, Rainbow Families produced the Love Makes a Family report which set out areas in which LGBTQ+ families experienced discrimination. Many of those issues are still to be addressed:
Family formation
- Lack of legal recognition for parents who have formed their families through surrogacy
- Barriers to fostering and adoption due to outsourcing of services to religious organisations who can discriminate against LGBTQ+ people under Anti-discrimination law exemptions
Education
- The need for a Safe Schools program to address bullying, harassment and discrimination against students who are from LGBTQ+ families or LGBTQ+ identifying and support for those students and resources for teachers
- Heteronormative enrolment procedures that don’t reflect the diversity of families including co-parenting arrangements across households
- Exemptions to the Anti-Discrimination Act that enable religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ staff and students.
Health
- Need to prioritise LGBTQ+ mental health services given the greater incidence of poor mental health compared with the general population caused by discrimination, stigma and isolation
- Discrimination in accessing health care due to lack of understanding of LGBTQ+ families
The need for reform in the health area has been recognised in the NSW Government’s LGBTQ+ Health Strategy 2022-2027.
Births Deaths and Marriages
- Barriers to trans people obtaining identification documents that reflect their gender due to requirements to undergo surgery and convoluted processes
- Inability for trans people to amend their children’s birth certificates to reflect a parent’s change of name
NSW Government services generally
- Need for forms designed for parents to use gender neutral language such as ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’ not ‘mother’ and ‘father’.
- Forms and processes that preference one parent and don’t accommodate co-parenting arrangements.
You can be part of these important changes by telling us about your experiences in our survey. All responses will be treated confidentially and only de-identified information included in the submission will be de-identified.
Share your experiences here
