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Appendix 2: Definitions in state and territory laws - Addressing sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity discrimination: Consultation Report (2011)

Addressing sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity discrimination

Consultation Report

2011


 

Appendix 2: Definitions in state and territory laws

Table 1: Sexuality Grounds in State and Territory Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Act Ground Definition of Ground
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) ‘homosexuality’ ‘homosexual means male or female homosexual’
Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic) ‘sexual orientation’ ‘sexual orientation means homosexuality (including lesbianism), bisexuality or heterosexuality’
Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) ‘sexuality’ ‘sexuality means heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality’
Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA) ‘sexuality’ ‘sexuality means heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality’
Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) ‘sexual orientation’ ‘sexual orientation, in relation to a person, means heterosexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism or bisexuality and includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism or bisexuality imputed to the person’
Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT) ‘sexuality’ ‘sexuality means heterosexuality, homosexuality (including lesbianism) or bisexuality’
Anti-Discrimination Act 1992 (NT) ‘sexuality’ ‘sexuality means the sexual characteristics or imputed sexual characteristics of heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality’
Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) ‘sexual orientation’ ‘sexual orientation means –

  • (a) heterosexuality; or
  • (b) homosexuality; or
  • (c) bisexuality; or
  • (d) transsexuality’

‘transsexuality means the condition of being a transsexual’

‘transsexual means a person of one sex who–

(a) assumes the bodily characteristics of the other sex by medical or other means; or

(b) identifies himself or herself as a member of the other sex; or

(c) lives or seeks to live as a member of the other sex’

 

Table 2: Gender Identity Grounds in State and Territory Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Act Ground Definition of Ground
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) ‘transgender’ ‘recognised transgender person’

‘A reference in this Part to a person being transgender or a transgender person is a reference to a person, whether or not the person is a recognised transgender person:

(a)   who identifies as a member of the opposite sex by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex, or

(b)   who has identified as a member of the opposite sex by living as a member of the opposite sex, or

(c)   who, being of indeterminate sex, identifies as a member of a particular sex by living as a member of that sex,

and includes a reference to the person being thought of as a transgender person, whether the person is, or was, in fact a transgender person’

‘recognised transgender person means a person the record of whose sex is altered under Part 5A of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 or under the corresponding provisions of a law of another Australian jurisdiction’

Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic) ‘gender identity’

‘gender identity means—

(a) the identification on a bona fide basis by a person of one sex as a member of the other sex (whether or not the person is recognised as such) —

(i) by assuming characteristics of the other sex, whether by means of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise; or

(ii) by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the other sex; or

(b) the identification on a bona fide basis by a person of indeterminate sex as a member of a particular sex (whether or not the person is recognised as such)—

(i) by assuming characteristics of that sex, whether by means of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise; or (ii) by living, or seeking to live, as a member of that sex’

Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) ‘gender identity’

‘gender identity, in relation to a person, means that the person —

(a) identifies, or has identified, as a member of the opposite sex by living or seeking to live as a member of that sex; or

(b) is of indeterminate sex and seeks to live as a member of a particular sex’

Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA) ‘chosen gender’ ‘For the purposes of this Act, a person is a person of a chosen gender if —

  • (a) the person identifies on a genuine basis as a member of the opposite sex by assuming characteristics of the opposite sex (whether by means of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise) or by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex; or
  • (b) the person, being of indeterminate sex, identifies on a genuine basis as a member of a particular sex by assuming characteristics of the particular sex (whether by means of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise) or by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the particular sex’
Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) ‘gender history’ ‘gender reassigned person’

‘a person has a gender history if the person identifies as a member of the opposite sex by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the opposite sex’

‘opposite sex means a sex of which the person was not a member at birth’

‘gender reassigned person means a person who has been issued with a recognition certificate under the Gender Reassignment Act 2000 or a certificate which is an equivalent certificate for the purposes of that Act’

 

Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT) ‘gender identity’

‘gender identity means—

(a) the identification on a genuine basis by a person of one sex as a member of the other sex (whether or not the person is recognised as such) —

(i) by assuming characteristics of the other sex, whether by way of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise; or

(ii) by living, or seeking to live, as a member of the other sex; or

(b) the identification on a genuine basis by a person of indeterminate sex as a member of a particular sex (whether or not the person is recognised as such)—

(i) by assuming characteristics of that sex, whether by way of medical intervention, style of dressing or otherwise; or

(ii) by living, or seeking to live, as a member of that sex’

Anti-Discrimination Act 1992 (NT) See ‘sexuality’

‘sexuality means the sexual characteristics or imputed sexual characteristics of heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality’

 

Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) See ‘sexual orientation’

‘sexual orientation means –

(a) heterosexuality; or

(b) homosexuality; or

(c) bisexuality; or

(d) transsexuality’.

‘transsexuality means the condition of being a transsexual’

‘transsexual means a person of one sex who–

(a) assumes the bodily characteristics of the other sex by medical or other means; or

(b) identifies himself or herself as a member of the other sex; or

(c) lives or seeks to live as a member of the other sex’