Transgender New Zealanders can soon change the sex on their birth certificate without providing evidence of a medical procedure.
The Births Deaths Marriages Relationships Registration Bill (BDMRR Bill) passed into law on Thursday, which introduces a simple administrative process for amending the sex shown on a birth certificate - a process already in place for a driver's licence or passport.
The current process to change a birth certificate involves navigating the Family Court process, which includes gathering evidence, appearing before a judge, and disclosing private medical information.
The law change means transgender people will no longer need to pay the costs of legal support or invest large amounts of time.
The self-identification provisions come into force in 18 months. This will give the Government time to consult with the rainbow community to ensure the legislation works.
The consultation will focus on who is suitably qualified to support applications for young people, requirements for anyone seeking to amend their registered sex more than once, and how to ensure the sex markers available include non-binary and cultural options.
Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere said in Parliament on Thursday she was disappointed the law change only applies to transgender New Zealanders.
"I may or may not have tried the patience of the select committee by my persistent encouragement of the officials to come up with a solution to this but I wholeheartedly thank those officials for the hard work that they did. I know they're all personally invested in making this work.
"We could have come up with a quick fix - nothing that would have protected the privacy of the people who need this."
She acknowledged that Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti has promised to find a solution.
"I look forward to the minister specifying that this includes refugees, asylum seekers and recent migrants who may not yet be residents but who come here to make this their home."
The LGBTQI+ advocate held back tears.
"I am very proud to commend this Bill to the House. Kia ora."
Tinetti, in her speech, reflected on the process of passing the law.
"I would like to thank all the submitters who had their say in this and also thank the select committee for their hard work over this time."
But the select committee process was far from harmonious. MPs clashed with the likes of Speak Up For Women, a group formed in 2018 in opposition to the sex self-ID proposals, who fear it would erode the rights of women to access single-sex services.
Labour MP Deborah Russell got into a heated exchange with Beth Johnson, a spokesperson for Speak Up For Women, who proposed sex-ID not be allowed for trans women, over fears of "retained male patterns of violence".
Russell also clashed with a submitter called Rex Landy, who described transgender people as having a "mental illness" and that "men in dresses are not women, they can never be women".
And last month Labour MP Ingrid Leary's office was vandalised with graffiti in what appeared to be backlash to the sex self-ID law change process.
National's spokesperson for women, Nicola Grigg, said in Parliament on Thursday it was important for all views to be heard.
"I'd like to say that I do understand the fear that some have expressed that allowing people to change their birth certificate according to how they self-identify might somehow diminish the status of women in society.
"It might also represent a step in the direction of replacing the concept of sex in law and public policy with the concept of gender.
"Those views are genuinely held by a number of people and their expression is a valid contribution to the conversation that we've had in the debate that has gone on.
"We as parliamentarians do have an obligation to listen to them and to take them seriously and to respect them.
"I have to say I have been concerned that during the passage of this Bill, some groups who wished to hold public meetings, public debate at public venues have been blocked from doing so. This is wrong. It is a clear overreach by those venues in question."
Grigg appeared to be referring to Speak Up For Women being blocked from hosting events due to complaints about the group representing TERFs, or 'trans-exclusionary radical feminists'.
"We can't have a situation in New Zealand where the views of others that might be disagreed with are somehow branded as harmful or dangerous or offensive. There is no right in this country to be offended by what other people think or what their opinions might be.
"If we shut down the full expression of topics such as this, we won't benefit from considering a full range of views as we debate complex policy and ideas and I do worry about the societal impacts of people feeling that their views are no longer able to be expressed."
The National Party didn't oppose the law, however. Grigg said it had her party's support, thanks to the select committee process and the fact that the law will be reviewed in five years.