Danielle Laidley among advocates to welcome bid to scrap WA Gender Reassignment Board

Danielle Laidley says the abolition of WA’s gender reassignment board is a step in the right direction.  (ABC News: Cason Ho)

Western Australians will no longer have to undergo medical or surgical reassignment in order to change their sex or gender, under the state government’s proposed law reforms.

The state’s Gender Reassignment Board, which manages applications to legally change a person’s gender, would be abolished under the new laws.

Attorney-General John Quigley said the legislation would bring WA in line with the rest of Australia.

“This is not radical legislation … we’re only bringing Western Australia out of the dark ages, up to a level of social reform that the rest of the country already respects and enjoys,” he said.

Reforms will save lives, advocate says

Danielle Laidley is an AFL premiership winner, and one of the youngest senior coaches in the sport’s history.

Laidley was outed as a trans woman by police, had her family turn their back on her, and survived the drugs she turned to as her life spiralled out of control.

“Today I can finally stand here, as a proud Western Australian and transgender woman,” she said.

Laidley said the abolition of the Gender Reassignment Board was a step forward for WA.

“It was wrong for someone to sit there and tell me who I was. They haven’t walked a mile in my shoes, they don’t know how I feel,” she said.

Transfolk of WA deputy chairperson Dylan Green said the reform was a significant step to creating a pathway for transgender and gender-diverse people to align legal documentation with their gender identity.

“This will improve the lives, and save the lives, of many trans and gender diverse people in Western Australia,” he said.

However, Mr Green noted the state government’s proposal did not meet all of the recommendations made by the state’s Law Reform Commission in 2018.

“We will be making further recommendations to the government regarding the regulations for this proposed bill, and advocating for further law reform,” he said.

“We’ve seen in other states … certain requirements for clinical evidence have been removed for adults over the age of 18, so they use the self-determination model.

“That is what is widely considered best practice.”

More change to come

Under the new laws, adults who have received counselling would be able to apply for a sex-change through the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Teenagers between 12 and 18-years-old would need the consent of both parents, and children under 12 would need approval from the WA Family Court.

The legislation also includes clauses prohibiting certain types of offenders from applying to change their gender.

“You don’t want someone who, for example, has been convicted of a nasty, aggravated sexual offence, then changing gender so they can access women-only areas,” Mr Quigley said.

The proposed bill would also make the sex descriptors “non-binary” and “indeterminate/intersex” available, alongside “male” and “female”.

The reforms would not change the existing procedure for registering the sex of a newborn. It also contains a requirement for the legislation to be reviewed after three years.

Mr Quigley has flagged the proposed legislation is only the first tranche of a multitude of changes to remove barriers for, and improve the lives of, the LGBTQIA+ community.

The WA government is chasing further reforms, including the development of a new Equal Opportunity Act and banning conversion therapy practices, which the attorney-general said would have to wait until after the 2025 state election.

“The federal government has announced the Australian Law Reform Commission findings, and the Prime Minister has come out and said on some contentious areas he is hopeful of getting bipartisan support,” Mr Quigley said.

“I don’t want to come in from left field and upset the applecart.”

Reform follows landmark UK review

The proposed law reform comes after a landmark investigation into gender-affirming care in England, known as the Cass Review.

It recommended significantly limiting the prescription of medications, known as puberty blockers, for people aged under 18.

Federal health minister Mark Butler described the review’s findings as “significant” but said the clinical treatment of transgender children in Australia was very different than in the UK.