July 1, 2025 – Community groups have welcomed key reforms in the NSW Equality Act coming into effect today, including new birth certificate laws and better recognition of some rainbow families.
The largest package of LGBTIQ+ reforms in NSW history was passed last October, bringing the state into line with the rest of the country.
From today, trans people will no longer be required to have surgery before updating ID to accurately reflect their gender. Non-binary and non-specified gender makers are also now available.
There is also a pathway for some children born out of overseas commercial surrogacy arrangements to have their parents recognised.
Teddy Cook, Equality Australia Senior Advisor said it was a monumental day for the trans community.
“This is the first major reform since the 1980s that will directly empower and improve the lives of trans people across NSW,” he said.
“Adults and young people will no longer have to be examined by a medical professional, require surgery or have to prove to anyone else that we are who we say we are.
“Not all trans people want to have surgery and legal recognition of who we are is a human right. The prohibitive cost and other barriers to accessing surgeries rules them out as viable options for many trans people, even for those desperately wanting surgery.
“We may be the last state to get there, but during a time when trans people are under attack globally, it means the world.”
ACON CEO Michael Woodhouse said the laws were the result of many years of hard work to better protect the lives and families of LGBTQ+ people.
“The passing of the bill into law is one of the most significant rafts of reforms for our communities in the state’s history,” he said.
“Being able to live and be legally recognised as your authentic self is critical to long-term health and wellbeing. The updated laws will remove cruel and unnecessary barriers of gender recognition for trans and gender diverse people, better protect LGBTQ+ people from being 'outed' without consent, removes language which stigmatises people living with HIV and better recognises parents in families formed through surrogacy.”
Ashley Scott, Executive Officer of Rainbow Families welcomed the surrogacy reforms.
“Every child deserves the same legal recognition of their families, regardless of how they were born. These reforms help move us closer to that goal — but there’s still much more to do to ensure the law works well to protect surrogates, parents and children alike,” he said.
“All children deserve equal recognition, protection and access to legal rights, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.”
Equality Australia CEO Legal Director Heather Corkhill said the Equality Act was a proud moment in the fight for equality, but the hard work was far from over.
Protecting LGBTQ+ students and staff in religious schools was one of the vital reforms omitted from the package and now being considered by the NSW Law Reform Commission as part of a broader review of NSWs Anti-Discrimination Act.
“NSW has some of the least progressive and most ineffective anti-discrimination laws in the country,” Ms Corkhill said.
“People are genuinely shocked to discover that a private school in NSW can legally fire a teacher for being gay or deny a student a leadership position because they are trans.
“Our anti-discrimination laws have barely been updated in the 50 years since they were first written and it’s time they reflected who we are as a society.”
Reforms coming into effect on July 1:
· Trans people can update their birth certificate without surgery or examination
· Available sex descriptors on birth certificates to include non-binary and not-specified (blank)
· Extra time to register a birth if variations of sex characteristics make it difficult to determine sex marker (extended from 60 days to 180 days)
· Family members can alter the gender marker of a trans child/parent/sibling that appears on their own birth certificate
· The Mental Health Act makes it clear that gender identity and gender expression are not mental illnesses and are not reasons to detain someone
· Pathway for some children born out of overseas commercial surrogacy arrangements to have their parents recognised
Link to Equality Australia video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLinwZ-taMp/?igsh=MW9kZnQzMWRmMDhhcw%3D%3D
Link to NSW government info: https://www.nsw.gov.au/family-and-relationships/name-changes-and-corrections/change-of-sex#onejuly
Media contact: Tara Ravens (0408 898 154), Mike Hitch (0426 812 115)
