ACT LGBTIQ+ Legal Audit
Summary
In 2019, the ACT Government asked Equality Australia to review ACT laws to find any that might discriminate against or harm LGBTIQ+ people. The goal was to find ways to change the law to end discrimination and make the ACT a safe, respectful, and welcoming place for everyone.
The review found areas where ACT laws could be updated to better protect rights of LGBTIQ+ people, remove discrimination, and reflect current understandings of diverse identities.
Law reforms
Since then, the ACT Government has made changes based on these recommendations, including:
- banning gender identity and sexuality conversion practices
- making it easier for young people under 18 to change their name or sex in documents
- legally recognising family relationships for children born through international surrogacy.
The ACT Government has updated the definitions of traits that are protected from discrimination. These changes include:
- adding 'gender expression' to 'gender identity,' so people cannot be discriminated against based on how they express their gender
- changing 'intersex status' to 'sex characteristics', to protect anyone with variations in sex characteristics, even if they don't identify as intersex
- updating the definition of 'sexuality' to be more inclusive of different sexual orientations.
Under the Capital of Equality Strategy 2024-2029, the ACT Government will continue working on law reforms to support LGBTIQA+ equality.