On the 20th of May, ACT member of parliament David Seymour announced on his Facebook account that ACT would be directly supporting the movement of the controversial ‘Man and Woman’ bill through parliament. Promoted as a feminist movement, the bill seeks to define transgender people under their biological sex in court, rather than their chosen gender. This would directly harm these minorities, and mentally affect them when they are standing trial, or testifying as witnesses. The defense for this is that the current legislation is inherently ‘anti woman’- a statement that has been backed up by a number of female politicians despite being based on nothing valid. The lack of support for the pay equality bill shows that ACT holds no regard for women in the legal system and in sectors of employment, making their support for this bill clearly based on their need to control minorities. Jenny Marcroft, the New Zealand First Member in support of the bill claims that what it currently means to be a woman is “under attack”, and that law should “reflect reality”. For the transgender people affected by this bill, what it means to be a woman is far more complex and valuable than it ever will be for someone that is assigned female at birth (afab). The journey taken for these people to become women is long and laborious, and will become even more so with the government pushing increasingly anti-trans and anti-minority bills that support baseless conservative rhetoric. The legal problem with this bill is that it is so brief on the points it attempts to rectify, to the point that it’s barely relevant in court as it is. All it suggests is that men and women are referred to by their biological sex rather than their chosen gender in court; something that is irrelevant to legal processions anyway. The bill is not what’s important to our current one term government though. What is important to them is slowly introducing anti-trans policies and rhetoric into the courts and legal system, until they have adequate room to reverse monumental legislation, like the 2023 decision to allow transgender people to modify their assigned gender on their birth certificates. Symbolic legislation like this charges public discourse; as law shows who is respected, cared for, and not discriminated against. Requiring transgender people to identify as their biological sex in court degrades their rights, and just increases feelings of societal alienation that are already all too prevalent. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 71% of transgender and non binary people already experience significant psychological distress in their day to day life, and adding increased discrimination will only exacerbate this. This bill falls short of the New Zealand government’s human rights obligations, after the Human Rights Act was introduced in 1993 to directly protect queer and rainbow minorities in Aotearoa. The Commission interprets sex discrimination as being inclusive of other gender identities, and accepts complaints from transgender people on these grounds. Disability rights commissioner and Rainbow Rights Spokesperson Prudence Walker says that the bill will “trample on the mana of transgender and intersex people, who already face well documented discrimination”. The amount of rainbow activists that are coming out and speaking against this bill shows that it is a significant issue within the community, and something that should be taken with the seriousness it already is. The question being asked is; what can we, the general public do about it? The good news is that while the government seems to be taking steps towards a less inclusive system, we still live in a democracy and can submit against these things. Visit the New Zealand Parliament website, and put Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill in the search bar. This will take a maximum of fifteen minutes, and incites significant change towards making sure our transgender family remain supported and less discriminated against in politics and the legal system. Your support is also so important to any transgender people you know during this time. For them to know that you’re there for them, and that you heavily disagree with the government’s choices is vital to keeping them supported and positive that this is something that can be moved through.
