Editorial

by Katherine Cummings

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

The law of the land is not supposed to play favourites. It should be the same for everyone, regardless of their wealth, their religion or their cultural background. The only exceptions should be those made to help people who would otherwise suffer disadvantage in reaching parity with the rest of the population. Children and the disabled, for instance, need special consideration but religions and ethnic groups do not. Nor should subsets of the population be actively disadvantaged simply in order to preserve the status quo or to glean a few more votes from the ignorant and bigoted.

The nations most like us are, arguably, Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain. The United States is too heterogeneous to be included and has, besides, blotted its moral copybook badly in the recent past. But Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain are now well ahead of us in the area of human rights, specifically as those rights apply to the transgendered. Canada allows same-sex marriages, New Zealand allows post-op transgenders to have all the legal rights of their affirmed genders and Great Britain allows the same rights to transgenders and includes the reissue of birth certificates. There are further steps which should be taken to make matters even better, including the removal of the need for surgical intervention but by and large these three countries have moved bravely in the right direction, ignoring the frantic protests of the fanatic right, the fundamentalist religionists and the generally dim who do not think any reforms are necessary.

Anti-Discrimination laws in New South Wales are better than those of some of the other States and certainly better than Commonwealth laws, yet there are still a number of areas where they are unsatisfactory. Religious and sporting organisations are allowed to discriminate against us (and against G.L.B.T. generally) as are businesses which employ five people or fewer.

Surely a religion worthy of the name should be able to accept all kinds of people and should not be erecting barriers based on prejudice and superstition. I doubt if religions would be allowed to exclude Aborigines, or women, or the disabled, so why should they be allowed to discriminate against people whose gender history they condemn, or whose sexuality they do not share? It probably goes back to the furphy that people "choose" to be transgendered, or gay, or lesbian and that therefore these lifestyles need to be amended before these people are acceptable in the ante-room to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why should small firms be granted an immunity not granted large firms? If a transgender misbehaves at work, discipline or fire them, but do not deny them employment for something which is part of them and in no way a choice or a lifestyle.

And why should sporting bodies care (some don't care, and I respect them and wish them well) if a person is transgendered ? If they are afraid that females are going to be overpowered by male-to-female changelings then let them divide sports by weight, the way boxing does.

And, talking of boxing, if we are trying to improve our culture morally, why don't we eliminate sports whose only purpose is to hurt and incapacitate opponents? This would mean the end of boxing and other primitive spectacles. And a good thing, too. Boxing is neither noble, nor is it the art of self-defence. I will defend myself with anything handy and hard, not a padded leather pudding, thank you.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.