Same Sex: Submissions

Dear HREOC,

Thank you for the opportunity to make a public submission to the National Inquiry into Discrimination against People in Same Sex Relationships: Financial and Work-Related Entitlements and Benefits.

I wish my name to be recorded as Sally Goldner

I am a 40-y-o with a portfolio career, single, bisexual, transgender female and with no children.

I believe that to achieve full legal equality all Federal legislation should have terms such as 'spouse', 'partner' 'dependent' , 'family' and 'couple' redefined to include partners regardless of sex or gender identity and, where relevant,their children.

However, I express my disappointment and frustration at HREOC wimping out to the combination of extremist so-called Christians and the self-appointed  Gods of GLBTI lobbying in Australia, namely the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, both of whom want everyone as couples . To have an enquiry about  couples when there is no Federal law protecting singles on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status puts the cart before the horse. We need Equal Opportunity/Anti-Discrimination (EO/AD) law at a Federal level that covers sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status and we definitely need it yesterday, not possibly tomorrow. If there s no Federal EO/AD law that covers these attributes, thereby enabling discrimination against an individual getting a job, there is no use protecting people as couples in areas such as Medicare and taxation.

I totally support marriage rights where sex or gender identity is irrelevant. This would therefore eliminate, or at best largely minimise the importance of identifying sex on birth certificates. This in turn would eliminate the requirement that transsexuals must have surgery to have their birth certificate changed. The key factor for birth certificate changes for transsexuals could then rightfully be based on permanency of transition, eliminating unnesseccasry surgeries and false limitations on gender identity.

Yours sincerely

SALLY GOLDNER

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