So as many of you will know the voting population of Australia was recently surveyed. The purpose of this hugely expensive postal survey was to provide the Australian Government with a feel for the way the Australian people feel about Same Sex Marriage…
The turnout, or the rather response rate was an impressive 80%. The outcome a resounding YES….Same Sex Marriage will become law.
Of course not everyone voted Yes, for some this is just too hard to bear. More than 4,000,000 people chose to vote No and this also tells a story.
So the incumbent PM has promised to deliver a change in the law permitting Same Sex Couples to have a recognised union. What does this mean for me….
The answer is not entirely straightforward.
Although the Federal and State Governments now recognise me as Ms. Suzanne Roberta Aston, there remains on my file a single character marker that tells another story. It’s called the Gender Marker and mine is sat at “M”
I am entirely within my legal rights to request that this be changed to “F”, I have undergone medical procedures and treatment, that are legally recognised. I have lived and worked in my preferred gender role for the requisite period of time….My Gender Marker remains at M, because the marriage I entered into in 1992, means more to Jane and I, than a bureaucratic process. That our relationship has survived is remarkable, and that our Marriage remains intact is a celebration of this powerful union.
There are one or two risks with this approach of course….Should I be prosecuted, and sentenced to a custodial sentence, the M Marker almost certainly means a spell in Male Prison. This may seem unlikely, that is until you look at the velocities I manage to achieve on some of my rides 🙂
With a forthcoming change in the law, permitting Same Sex Couples to Wed, I should at long last be able to apply to change my Gender Marker without forcing a Divorce…..
This is real progress, our Vows and Promises from 1992 as legally intact now, as they were then. This of course calls for a celebration.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than another Wedding 🙂
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