By Neil Sands, Australian Associated Press
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
Just a month after Tasmania repealed laws outlawing gay sex, the opposition ALP wants the rights of transsexuals recognised.
A motion to the ALP's state conference in Launceston this weekend will call for laws banning discrimination against transsexuals - people who have undergone genital reconstruction to change their gender.
The motion, from the ALP's Longford/Evandale branch, said there were about 50 transsexuals in Tasmania who suffered exceptionally high levels of verbal abuse and physical violence.
They had no legal rights and were subject to ridicule, the motion said.
It said transsexuals should be issued with new birth certificates once they adopted their new identity, transsexual marriages should be recognised and transsexual students should be allowed to attend single-sex schools matching their new gender.
Gay law reform advocate Rodney Croome (Croome) said sections of the motion preventing employers and landlords discriminating against transsexuals were likely to be passed at the conference.
But he predicted official recognition of transsexual identity and transexual marriages would prove more controversial.
"There's already a proposed anti-discrimination law which includes transsexuals, so that won't be a problem for the ALP," he said.
"But recognition of gender reassignment is not something that's been debated before in Tasmania and when a political party confronts something new it's always controversial."
Mr Croome said the fact that transsexual issues were even being discussed showed the changes in Tasmania over the past few months.
On May 1, the state's upper house repealed internationally-condemned sections of the criminal code outlawing sex between men.
"I don't want to sound too grand about this, but I think we're moving toward a more tolerant, inclusive Tasmania," he said.
"We're not there yet but the process has started."
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