Chosen gender
Chosen gender is where a person lives as a member of the opposite sex (sometimes called being transsexual or transgender). It is illegal to treat a person unfavourably in community life because of their chosen gender.
Here’s an example of chosen gender discrimination in goods and services:
| Faye was born male but lives as a female. She wears women’s clothing, but often has to get off-the-rack items altered to fit comfortably. Faye took some dresses to an alterations shop and was told that they couldn’t help her because she would need to put the dresses on for them to be pinned and it would put other customers off to see a man dressing up as a woman in their shop. |
Chosen gender isn't simply cross-dressing or pretending to be a member of the opposite sex temporarily, for instance, as a joke, for a party or in a play. Equal opportunity law only applies to a person who genuinely identifies as a member of the opposite sex. It doesn't matter whether the person has had a sex-change operation or not.
Last updated on Tue, 08/17/2010 - 13:47.
