Karen Gurney Collection

LIJ: Volume 79: No.1-2 (January-February 2005)
Unsolicited (Letters to the editor)
https://www.liv.asn.au/journal/archive/79-02-Feb2005/79-02-Feb2005-Unsolici.html#Heading29

Karen W Gurney
Advocate;
Conseillère, Questions Juridiques Australian Woman Network;
l’Organisation Internationale des Intersexués
Cite as Karen Gurney, ‘Unsolicited – Name change provisions unacceptable’ (2005) 1,2 LIJ

Name change provisions unacceptable

LIJ: Volume 79: No.5 (May 2005)
Unsolicited (Letters to the editor)
Cite as: (2005) 79(5) LIJ, p. 8

Karen Gurney
Deakin University Law School researcher

The Victorian government recently joined with most of the rest of the civilised world by
legislating to allow people with transsexualism who are adults, are “unmarried” and have
undergone sex affirmation surgery to obtain a replacement birth certificate reflecting the
contemporaneous circumstances of their sexual identity.

LIJ: Volume 79: No.4 (April 2005)

Karen Gurney
Researcher
Deakin University Law School
Cite as Karen Gurney, ‘Unsolicited – Justice denied...’ (2005) 79 (4) LIJ

Much was made last year of the release of Victoria’s first Justice Statement – a blueprint,
among other things, to set the Bracks’ human rights agenda for the next decade or so.
Included was an undertaking to introduce a “Bill of Rights” supported by an all-of-government

[center]If it’s got tackle, it’s a bloke!
By Karen Gurney - posted Tuesday, 7 December 2004
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2817
On November 10, 2004, the Victorian Government introduced the Corrections and Major Crimes
(Investigative Powers) Acts (Amendment) Act 2004 into the Victorian Parliament. It was given its second
reading just one day later. The Act, inter alia, grants unfettered administrative power to the Secretary,
Department of Justice, to refuse to permit a prisoner born and incarcerated in Victoria from making an

Hands up those who remember Calpernia Addams. Who? Calpernia Addams... young, very attractive, slight build, tall, swinging hips, red hair and green eyes... you know. OK. Who remembers Barry Winchell? Yes, Private Barry Winchell, the gay soldier who got bashed to death by some of his army mates for being a poofter.

Cite as: (2004) 79(3) LIJ, p. 42

http://www.liv.asn.au/journal/current/79-03-Mar2005-When.html

The medical view on transsexualism continues to develop, and this should be
combined with compassion, courtesy and common sense in the law.

By Karen W Gurney

[Of the many different variations that can occur in human sexual formation, trans-
sexualism no doubt remains the least understood by the wider Australian commu-
nity. As a consequence, the process of attaining human rights to legal status,
privacy, dignity and freedom from discrimination for those who experience this
unusual condition has been a slow and sometimes frustrating one. The article seeks
to introduce the reader to some of the more recent developments in the interna-
tional jurisprudence of transsexualism and the underlying medical evidence that

Victoria’s Justice Statement: Rights or
Rhetoric? [Or...‘There’s No Show Without
Punch!’]
Karen Gurney and Eithne Mills
Deakin University Law School
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v12n1_2/Mills12_1.html
Contents
• Introduction
• Human rights and the requirement of non-discrimination
• Transsexualism and the need for documented legal status following
affirmation of sexual identity
• A subtle discrimination pre justice statement
• Discrimination enshrined in law post justice statement

[center]Abstract
In 2004, the Victorian Government enacted legislation allowing people treated for
transsexualism to correct the record of their sex on the Register of Births, Deaths
and Marriages and obtain a new certificate reflecting their contemporaneous
circumstances. It was the last of all the States and Territories to do so.
The legislation gave effect to some important changes to the law and was