MEDIA RELEASE: 250+ Young People Change Birth ‘Gender’
ALMOST 1,000 MEN BECOME WOMEN
More than 250 young people have changed the sex on their birth certificate since the new birth certificate law came into force on 15 June 2023, including 86 children 15 years or younger.
172 teens aged 16-17 have had their ‘gender marker’ changed, of which 30 have done it without parental / guardian consent.
According to Official Information Act data gained by Family First from the Department of Internal Affairs, the number of people who have changed their gender on their NZ birth certificate since June 2023 is:
Overall, there have been 2,099 gender marker changes on birth records in New Zealand since 15 June 2023.
Of equal concern is that 984 men have changed their gender to female on their birth certificate – an average of almost one per day – who can now access women’s spaces.
As Family First stated in their submission on the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill currently before the Social Services and Community Committee:
“[The definitions of woman and man] has practical consequences for women’s access to single-sex spaces and services, for the integrity of maternity health policy, for the enforceability of sex-based legal protections, and for organisations and individuals expected to administer those protections consistently and in good faith. Sex-based protections in New Zealand law governing domestic violence, pregnancy discrimination, pay equity, breast and cervical cancer screening, women’s refuges, and sport are grounded in evidence-based, specific, and consequential biological distinctions.”
“By choosing your own gender in your birth certificate, the certificates have become an object of unscientific gender ideology and effectively tells medical professionals that they got it wrong at time of birth. Circumstances may change but a historical document should not be able to be changed,” says Bob McCoskrie, CEO of Family First NZ.
Family First has recommended the repeal of the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021 to ensure that a person’s registered sex aligns with the Act’s biological definitions. This change would ensure that the biological definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are consistently applied across all statutes, maintaining coherence in interpretation and legal application.
Approximately 1700 passports have also been changed for adults 18-plus since January 2023, and approximately 250 passports of young people.
READ MORE ON THE LAW: www.BirthCertificates.nz
