Queensland passes self-ID, ignoring risks to women and girls

Queensland has shamefully passed its self-ID law 50 votes to 34.

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill 2022 allows anyone to change their legal sex and will enable any man to self-identify as a woman and access female-only activities, spaces and services, including sports, prisons, bathrooms, and refuges.

The deception required by the Queensland Labor and Greens MPs to pass the bill was extraordinary. Time and again during the debate, these MPs undermined women’s concerns, claiming there was ‘no evidence’ self-ID laws put women and girls at risk.

The deception required by @QLDLabor MPs like 'Minister for Women' @ShannonFentiman to pass QLDs #SelfID bill today was extraordinary.

It's a dark day for QLD women & girls who have been sold out by their government, but we won't stop fighting for their sex-based rights & safety. pic.twitter.com/yozu4dWGXf

— WomensForumAustralia (@WomensForumAust) June 14, 2023

QLD has shamefully just passed #SelfID.

The law allows anyone to change their legal sex & will enable any man to self-ID as a woman & access female-only spaces.

During debate, women's safety concerns were disgracefully dismissed by @QLDLabor MPs like @NikkiBoydMP as "hysteria". pic.twitter.com/DFwm4QFFXr

— Rachael Wong (@RachaelWongAus) June 14, 2023

While ultimately voting against the bill, it was disappointing to see LNP members, including Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls, also dismissing women's concerns about their rights and safety under the proposed law.

QLD's self-ID bill, which allows anyone to change their legal sex, just had its 2nd reading.

Shadow AG @TimNichollsMP said @LNPQLD can't support the bill, making great points re short consult time, how majority of subs oppose it, & harms to vulnerable kids.

Then he said this 😑 pic.twitter.com/U7kwf5wXSJ

— Rachael Wong (@RachaelWongAus) June 13, 2023

This is despite the abundance of evidence provided by Women’s Forum Australia and others through written and oral submissions to parliament, articles, media appearances, presentations and more, showing the harms to women and girls from men self-identifying into their spaces, services and sports.

LNP member Fiona Simpson, was one of the few MPs to really hit home the harms to women and girls from this legislation.

"Women have a right to be safe and they also have a right to feel safe...Dismissing women’s concerns about their safety is like blaming women; it is putting it on them and saying, ‘It’s your fault if you have concerns about your safety’," she said during debate on the bill.

Our campaign partner Sall Grover summed up the whole process perfectly when she said: “Every part of this has been what feels like an authoritarian nightmare.”

While this is not the outcome we were hoping for, we have still undoubtedly made a positive impact for women and girls in this debate:

• The entire Liberal National Party voted as a bloc against the bill, with multiple members citing our submissions in their arguments against the legislation. We will be encouraging these MPs to make repealing this law part of their policy platform going forward.
• We mobilised and educated thousands of people on the harms of self-ID, including voters who are now well informed about which parties will – and will not – protect the rights and safety of women and girls.
• We put on the record the grave harms to women and girls from self-ID, ranging from stolen opportunities and sporting places, to sexual assault by men self-identifying as women in female-only spaces. Those who recklessly pushed this law through can never say they didn’t know the risks.

The tide is beginning to turn on gender ideology all around the world, and so long as we continue to advocate and educate about the harms of self-ID, we can turn back the tide here as well.

Men can never be women. They do not belong in women’s prisons, women’s sports, women’s bathrooms, or women’s refuges. And their feelings should not take precedence over the rights and safety of women and girls.

Women’s Forum Australia is an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy advocacy on issues affecting women and girls, with a particular focus on addressing behaviours and practices that are harmful and abusive to them. We are a non-partisan, non-religious, tax-deductible charity. We do not receive any government funding and rely solely on donations to make an impact. Support our work today.