Today the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill will have its second reading in the house. Te Pāti Māori will be supporting this bill and recognise the importance of the proposed changes, especially those that seek to remove barriers to change registered gender on NZ birth certificates.

“We support our takatāpui community full stop. Our Te Ao Māori perspective does not allow labels to determine how we see each other, we are whānau.” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi.

“We acknowledge the work that has gone into this bill, and it’s been a long time coming. We are hoping this will help takatāpui feel they can be themselves. What we are trying to do is break down barriers, to start removing the stigma. The sooner we do that, the better this country will be.

“How our takatāpui whānau choose to identify themselves is entirely up to them, it’s not up to others to decide what that looks like. It’s our job to ensure we create safe and fair pathways where our takatāpui whānau achieve mana ōrite, equality without prejudice and stigma” said Waititi.

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