The new 2016 Australian Workplace Equality Index found 45 per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or intersex Australians hide their sexuality or gender identity at work because they fear it may damage their career. The other 55 per cent were out in the workplace.

Uniting Communities supports the proposed legislative reforms, introduced in the South Australian Parliament, which will protect and promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning South Australians. We welcome the introduction of the Relationships Register Bill 2016 (SA), Adoption (Review) Amendment Bill 2016 (SA) and Births, Deaths and Marriages (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill 2016 (SA). Having been passed in the lower house, the bills are currently pending in the upper house.

These proposed reforms will:

• Provide South Australian same sex couples the dignity and certainty of legal recognition of their relationships through a relationship recognition scheme;

• Recognise same sex couples married overseas, including on death certificates;

• Introduce protection from discrimination for intersex people in line with the federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth);

• Allow trans, gender diverse and intersex people to access birth certificates that reflect their true sex or gender and matches their federal identity documents such as passports;

• Allow same-sex couples to apply to adopt children on an equal basis with other couples; and

• Provide equal access for de facto and same sex couples to start a family using assisted reproductive technology or altruistic surrogacy arrangements.

Uniting Communities believes in workplace equality and recognises that if we reach out all the communities, including LGBTIQ community, we can improve happiness of the employees and productivity of the organisations.

Inputs from Make Change Happen campaign of Human Rights Law Centre

Rev Peter McDonald, Dr Dhamu Pongiyannan and Matthew Morris