A protester has disrupted a NSW parliamentary inquiry into proposed legislation that would make it easier for transgender people to record a sex change on legal documents.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Reverend Anthony Fisher was less than a minute into his evidence before the lower house committee on Wednesday when he was interrupted mid-sentence.
Archbishop Fisher began to say, "There is a troubling anti-religious undercurrent," when Pride in Protest activist Quay-Quay Quade stood up and yelled, "that's a load of f****** bullsh*t."
The live stream of the hearing was cut, and Ms Quade was removed from the room.
The committee is examining Independent MP Alex Greenwich's Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023, which seeks to change 20 acts of parliament.
One of the most contentious reforms is an amendment to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995.
It would remove the existing requirement for people to have undergone a sex affirmation procedure before registering a sex change.
NSW is the only Australian state or territory that still imposes this requirement.
Under the Equality Bill, a person aged 16 or older may apply to change their legal sex by making a statutory declaration that they identify as being of a particular sex.
Sex descriptors other than male and female include agender, genderqueer and non-binary.
The applicant must also provide a supporting statement from an adult who has known them for at least 12 months.
Concerns over ability to retain religious customs
After the hearing resumed, Archbishop Fisher said self-identification of sex on legal documents would put women-only spaces at risk and make it "near-impossible" to retain religious customs.
Examples he gave were single-sex prayer, opposite-sex weddings, male-only ordainments, and single-sex schooling.
"It's one thing to disagree with world religions on such matters, but quite another to deny them the right to practice their faith by making official documents deceptive regarding a person's biological or birth sex," he said.
Outside parliament, Ms Quade addressed a small group of supporters who had gathered in the rain.
They began to chant: "Equality delayed is equality denied."
Speaking to the ABC, Ms Quade branded the inquiry a "sham".
"This inquiry is totally just theatre so that it looks like the Labor party is doing something," she said.
Further down Macquarie Street, activists from the group Women's Rights Network Australia held their own protest.
One of them was Monique New, who said the bill would take away the sex-based rights of women.
"Women will no longer be able to say 'no' to men in their spaces," Ms New said.
"Women need female only spaces for their dignity, for their respect and their safety."
Greens NSW LGBTIQ+ spokesperson Amanda Cohn, said the changes would simply bring NSW into line with other states and territories.
"I live at Albury Wodonga on the border of Victoria. And it's just as safe for women in Victoria as it is here," Dr Cohn said.
"People who are arguing that this is a threat to women's safety aren't there to actually do any work on women's safety."
Dr Cohn accused the government of delaying the Equality Bill and she said the inquiry was unnecessary.
"There's no need for any more public airing of these issues. We know exactly how they're going to play out."
The NSW Gender Centre has provided frontline support to trans people for more than 40 years.
The service's health and communications manager Eloise Brook told the inquiry their clients were frequently on suicide watch.
A 2021 Australian study found 43 per cent of trans people had attempted to take their own life because of widespread discrimination.
Dr Brook, a trans woman, said her life improved vastly when the federal government changed the law a decade ago to allow her passport to match her gender identity.
"That meant that not only could I travel overseas, of course, but it also meant that I could volunteer for sports. I became a scout leader for a while," she said.
"These documents open doors of possibility and connection with families."
'Key operational issues'
The state government is yet to form a policy on whether to remove the surgery requirement for registering a sex change, saying its position will depend on the inquiry's outcome.
Last year, Premier Chris Minns did not rule out following similar reforms passed by the Labor governments of Victoria and Queensland.
But the government's official submission to the inquiry has flagged "key operational issues" with the proposed changes.
It warned the legislation, as it was currently drafted, "may reduce identity fraud protections".
The government said the Equality Bill lacked existing restrictions that require prison inmates and parolees to gain approval from authorities before they can register a sex change.
"Public safety considerations around allowing certain 'restricted persons' to change their registered sex without appropriate oversight should also be considered," the government's submission said.
The committee is due to report on the bill in June.
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