Widespread discrimination of rainbow community in New Zealand - report

Sunday, 21 June 2020

In 2019, the Cook Islands did a U-turn on decriminalising homosexuality.

A new report has found members of New Zealand's rainbow community continue to suffer from widespread discrimination and harm.

Its findings have renewed calls for a government office to be established to specifically oversee rainbow issues.

The Human Rights Commission report found current laws do not provide explicit legal protection from discrimination in regard to gender identity, expression or sex characteristics in New Zealand.

It found overt and subtle forms of discrimination to be widespread against members of the rainbow community, and that members of the community were also more likely to be victims of crime in New Zealand.

The report has reignited calls for the establishment of a dedicated rainbow issues government department. (File photo)

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A lack of information was found to be a key obstacle for the identification and resolution of issues concerning members of the rainbow community.

The report found data collection in New Zealand did not reflect a human rights-based approach, because response options limited diverse answers and the ability of rainbow people to be counted.

Paul Hunt, Chief Human Rights Commissioner, said the report outlined a need for action in the areas of law, policy, social work and community-led initiatives. (File photo)

Currently, the New Zealand Census does not ask Kiwis about their sexual orientation or gender identity, which advocates have long said is a barrier to the community receiving specific or targeted funding or assistance.

The report also found issues with official identity documents having information about sex/gender that was difficult to correct for transgender, non-binary or intersex people.

This included requiring people who wanted to amend the sex on their birth certificate to meet a medical threshold, and involve the Family Court.

Queer people are still not counted on the NZ Census, in what advocates have long said has been a barrier to the community getting the targeted help it needs.

The report found members of the rainbow community had poorer physical and mental health outcomes compared with the general population, and that health care practitioners often lacked training to meet specific rainbow health needs.

Gender-affirming health care was difficult to access and highly dependent on geographical residence, it found.

The report revealed issues within the education system, in that the New Zealand curriculum didn't adequately integrate learning about diversity into schools.

School was also found to be an unsafe environment for rainbow youth in New Zealand. It found that young Kiwis with diverse sexual orientation or gender identity were, respectively, three and four-and-a-half times more likely than other students to be bullied.

This translated to Kiwi workplaces. The most common complaint received by the Human Rights Commission on the grounds of sexual orientation was in relation to employment discrimination.

Rainbow Kiwis often concealed their identities and partners for fear of workplace discrimination, and a significant proportion of the community did not feel safe enough or feared discrimination both at work and while applying for jobs.

Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt said the report was based on five comprehensive hui, including one with transgender prisoners and another with disabled rainbow Kiwis.

'While sexuality-diverse communities have had the benefit of rapid gains in social acceptance in Aotearoa New Zealand, the pace of change for those with diverse gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics has been much slower,' he said.

The report emphasised the need for an interdisciplinary approach which blended law, policy, social work, and community-led initiatives to address the shortcomings.

Green Party rainbow issues spokesperson Jan Logie said the report highlighted failings for the equality of rainbow people, including unnecessary surgeries being performed on intersex youth, and continued suppression and erasure of sexual and gender fluidity in te ao Māori.

Logie reinstated a call for a government office to be set up to specifically focus on rainbow issues.

'We can't continue to fail our rainbow communities. We have to make more progress to ensure they are safe and able to live as who they are.'