As humanists, we are guided by reason, compassion, and respect for individual autonomy. As such, we campaign for equality, particularly relating to sexual orientation and identity, and where non-religious voices are weak or excluded and where there is religious or ideological interference.

The NZARH opposes the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill

The NZARH reaffirms that transgender people are entitled to full human rights and equal treatment under the law. Trans people have the same basic right to dignity and equality as everyone else. 

In the past few decades in Aotearoa New Zealand we have seen progress in trans rights, as a result of tireless human rights campaigning. Humanists supported the self-identification provisions in the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021, allowing individuals to change their registered sex on birth certificates via a statutory declaration instead of invasive medical requirements. We supported the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 to allow same-sex couples to marry. We campaigned to end conversion therapy practices.  

However, recently we have seen transgender people facing growing hostility in society. For example, the Government in 2025 directed Sport NZ to stop all work on the Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport. The same year, regulations for puberty blocker prescribing were updated, removing access to these treatments only for children or adolescents with gender incongruence or gender dysphoria.  These decisions are not just a shock – but a frightening setback that makes us fear for the future.

We believe that the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill is a disingenuous attempt to roll back the human rights and equality gains that have been made by marginalised groups. We have seen the lobbying efforts of conservative Christian groups like Inflection Point NZ, Family First NZ and Destiny Church target trans organisations and services, and an escalation in violence and violent rhetoric. This Amendment Bill, if passed, will legitimise discrimination and remove vital protections for marginalised people. 

The inclusion in legislation of the definition of “woman” as “an adult human biological female” and of “man” as “an adult human biological male” will create confusion and remove the ability of choice for organisations that already have the policies and processes in place to manage access to services. We have already seen the results of ideological interference in legislation in the United Kingdom, where the UK Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of a ‘woman’ for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 is based on biological sex. The result of this has been discrimination and harassment of both cis and trans people using public toilets and changing rooms, and organisations like Girlguiding UK and branches of the UK’s Women’s Institute being forced to exclude trans people regardless of their preference to be trans-inclusive.

Transgender prisoners already face significant challenges within New Zealand’s Corrections facilities; Transgender individuals, especially trans-women who are housed in men’s facilities, are highly vulnerable to physical and sexual violence and harassment. In recent years, regulations and procedures to ensure the safety, respect and dignity of trans-prisoners have come a very long way, but this Bill will likely reverse these gains. This Bill will also further complicate Corrections’ ability to safely and humanely manage transgender members of the prison population. 

New Zealand can avoid this.

We recommend:

1. That the Bill be discharged and not progressed to a second reading.

2. That the committee give particular weight to submissions from trans, takatāpui, intersex and non-binary New Zealanders, whose lives this Bill most directly affects.