Human rights protections for transgender Kiwis not a priority – Govt

2026-02-24 - 16:06

The Government has quietly rejected the recommendations from the independent Law Commission to reform how human rights protections apply to transgender and intersex people. In a paper tabled in Parliament on Monday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith acknowledged the commission’s report of last year but said the issue was not a priority for the Government at this stage. The commission produced its 450-page report, Ia Tangata: Protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics, after a request from the Minister of Justice under the last Labour government. That request sought advice on whether the Human Rights Act, which protects against discrimination on the basis of sex but does not mention gender identity or intersex people, needed to be updated. Successive governments and the Human Rights Commission have held that the protections against sex-based discrimination also bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity or variations of sex characteristics. However, this has never been tested in court. Goldsmith, when asked whether this was still the Government’s position, did not answer. “We thank the commission for its work. This was a priority for the previous Labour government, however we’re focused on fixing the basics in law and order, and building a future where all New Zealanders can feel safe in their communities,” he said. The Law Commission said the status quo wasn’t strong enough, however. “We do not consider that the state of the law on this issue is satisfactory. In the absence of any case law on the point, it remains unclear whether protection from discrimination is available to people in these groups and, if so, what the scope of that protection might be,” the commission wrote. It recommended clarifying the protections that apply to transgender and intersex people by adding “gender identity or its equivalents in the cultures of the person” and “having an innate variation of sex characteristics” as protected grounds in the Human Rights Act. The practical effect of these changes would have been to confirm that these groups have protection from discrimination in housing, hiring and access to goods and services. For the avoidance of doubt, the commission said, the changes “will not result in the criminalisation of misgendering or deadnaming, or of any other forms of speech or expression”. Misgendering is when the wrong pronouns are used for a person, and deadnaming is the use of a gender-diverse person’s previous name. In addition, the commission examined where the Act currently allows for discrimination based on sex – for example, in single-sex sports or education, or where being of a particular sex is a genuine qualification for a job, like acting or modelling – and made recommendations for whether the two new grounds should be exempted in these areas as well. Across the vast majority of the existing exceptions for different treatment based on sex in the Act, the commission recommended allowing for different treatment based on gender identity as well. This included exceptions enabling different treatment of transgender people in hiring both household employees and staff in organised religious groups, employing counsellors on highly personal matters such as sex or the prevention of violence, and in offering services like health insurance where risks might be expected to differ across sex or gender. One area where the commission said there should be no exception was in single-sex facilities. Transgender people should have access to single-sex public facilities, like toilets and changing rooms, that match their gender identity. Although this too threw up issues around privacy, the commission decided the concerns “are outweighed by the harmful effects of exclusion”. The Human Rights Commission responded to the Government’s decision with disappointment. Disability Rights Commissioner and Rainbow rights spokesperson Prudence Walker said the commission would continue to respond to complaints about discrimination against transgender and intersex people. “The government has a responsibility to prioritise people’s dignity, safety, and well-being. The Ia Tangata report recommendations provide a clear roadmap for explicitly protecting people from discrimination that is linked to being transgender or non-binary or having an innate variation of sex characteristics. We urge the government to reconsider its decision and actively work towards a more inclusive and rights-respecting approach,” she said. “As the Law Commission report notes, current data indicates increasing acceptance of transgender and non-binary people in our families and in our working lives. While human rights are not a matter of opinion, it is important to affirm the broad community support the Law Commission cites for increased legal protection.”