Legal (page 3 of 5)

Articles about legal cases and judgements, and policing matters. Read our briefing papers on bodily integrity, discrimination, identification documents and detention

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Statement on Re: Kelvin

We commend the Full Court of the Family Court in deciding to permit a competent transgender adolescent to make their own informed decision about stage 2 hormone treatment, in consultation with clinicians and their parents. We hope that Kelvin is also well connected with his peers. As the Australian Human Rights Commission has noted, this…
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The Family Court case Re: Kaitlin [2017] FamCA 83

The Family Court of Australia has recently published a new case involving an intersex child, this time where the parents sought consent for their child, an adolescent, to obtain treatment for “gender dysphoria”. Unlike in the recent Family Court case Re Carla (Medical procedure) [2016] Fam CA 7, the case was not supported by a…
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Darlington retreat

Darlington Statement

The Darlington Statement is a joint consensus statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations and independent advocates, agreed in March 2017. It sets out the priorities and calls to action by the intersex human rights movement in our countries.

RightsTalk, 22 February 2017: Anna Brown, Imam Nur Warsame, Morgan Carpenter, and Ed Santow

Morgan Carpenter: RightsTalk on protecting the rights of intersex people

On 22 February 2017, co-executive director Morgan Carpenter spoke at an Australian Human Rights Commission RightsTalk, on “Creating Equality – The Role of Law in Protecting SOGII Rights”. The event was hosted by Human Rights Commissioner Ed Santow, with Anna Brown, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Human Right Law Centre and Imam Nur Warsame,…
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UN Committee against Torture: Australia must respond to list of issues

Every few years, the UN Committee against Torture reviews the performance of member states against the obligations of the Convention Against Torture. In June this year, OII Australia made a submission to the Committee to help it prepare a “List of Issues Prior to Reporting”, for the government to respond to. The Committee has now…
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The Family Court case Re: Carla (Medical procedure) [2016] FamCA 7

The Family Court has recently published a decision on the sterilisation of a 5-year old child and, unfortunately, it reveals that: earlier genital surgery that “enhanced” her genitals without Court approval was viewed without concern, and with no evidence of necessity. The idea of “enhancing” the genitals of an infant or young child is disturbing….
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Demographics

The intersex population is far more diverse than commonly understood. This page presents details based on a 2015 independent Australian sociological survey.

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High Court: NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages v. Norrie

Update: We welcome the High Court judgement to recognise Norrie as having “non-specific” gender. We take no pleasure in having to comment on this case, currently before the High Court, Australia’s highest court, which has a hearing likely to be heard on 4 March 2014. However, the case raises the stakes for intersex people in…
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Gay News Network: We must put an end to normalising surgery

Gay News Network has kindly published an opinion piece by OII Australia president Morgan Carpenter: While it may not be foremost in the minds of many gay men, the clitoris is the only part of any human body that’s purely designed for pleasure. But is too much of a good thing a bad thing? Research…
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