Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Papers, 2016, 6(29): 301-316

The trans community debate concerning the application of section 21 of the Human Rights Act 1993 to trans people became public when the Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill 2004 was selected from the legislative ballot. The Bill proposed to amend section 21 to include gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Before the Bill received its first reading, however, it was withdrawn by its proponent, on the grounds that an opinion from the Crown Law Office concluded that such an amendment was unnecessary as trans people could well be covered by the existing prohibited ground of "sex" in section 21. In this comment, the author questions the conclusion of the Crown Law opinion and argues that an amendment is still required in order to protect the trans community from discrimination. (Author's abstract). Record #8853