‘Very confused’: Australia’s Human rights boss grilled over trans pregnancy protection law
Australia’s human rights boss has been grilled over a law that protects transgender women from being discriminated against by an employer who thinks they might be pregnant – but admitted the policy did not apply to a man seeking such a position.
Trans women are protected under the Sex Discrimination Act if they are not hired because an employer believes they are pregnant, Australian Human Rights Commissioner Anna Cody told Senate Estimates.
“This is about unlawful treatment by the employer,” he said.
“If someone is treated unfairly because of pregnancy or the possibility of pregnancy, that is unlawful discrimination.”
Senator Michaelia Cash said she was “very confused” by the inability of biological men to get pregnant.
“If they can’t get pregnant, how can you potentially get pregnant?” He asked the commissioner.
“A man walks in and says, ‘Are you going to have kids?’ which is essentially the same question and he said, ‘Oh yeah, maybe’, are you saying he could make that claim too?”
Ms. Cody said the policy would not apply to a man seeking a position.
“They’re both biological men, that doesn’t make any sense,” Senator Cash said.
“A biological man can’t get pregnant, right? Because if I’m not, I’ll have to go back to school, which I really will because I missed that biology class.”
“I went to a convent school, the nuns may not have told me about this, but you said a biological man couldn’t get pregnant.
“With all due respect, the absurdity of the law is exposed once again, which again shows that the law needs to be changed because for the record, biological males, no matter how you cut it, you cannot get pregnant.
“And frankly, this is an insult to women who are discriminated against for wanting to have children.”
But Ms. Cody argued that it could be assumed that a transgender woman is or could be pregnant, which would be discriminatory if they miss a job.
