Gender identity a legal fiction?

Reproduced from: Maxim Institute Real Issues No. 144, 17 FEBRUARY 2005

The Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill, sponsored by Labour MP Georgina Beyer, was introduced to parliament this week. The Bill provides for "gender identity" to be included as one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act.

According to the Bill, "gender identity" is "the identification by a person with a gender that is different from the birth gender of that person..." The Human Rights Commission adds that "gender identity can be broadly described as the sense of self associated with cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity". [I]t has become increasingly possible for both women and men in NZ to be 'feminine' and 'masculine' in ways that are markedly different from the pattern of preceding generations" (Human Rights in New Zealand Today, 2004).

Can people really change their sex? Can a male change to a female? Or are we legislating protection for a legal fiction? Will this be the latest victory of political correctness over biology? Under this Bill a person's sex, indeed their identity becomes a matter of personal preference reinforced by law, instead of being a matter of DNA and history. Parties have yet to confirm whether they will treat this Bill as a conscience vote.

To read an article related to the issue of gender identity by Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University visit: http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0411/articles/mchugh.htm