The Federal Government was last week forced to formally acknowledge the marriage, following a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to grant a female passport to Abrams, a post-operative trans woman.
Abrams had married her long-term female partner using her male birth certificate before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in Thailand in 2005.
On her return to Australia, she was denied a passport in her new gender on the basis that she was married to a woman.
She appealed this decision by Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in the tribunal in Sydney last month.
Abrams maintained that without a female passport she was unable to travel, contradicting both the Australian Passports Act, which states that every Australian citizen is entitled to a passport, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that everyone has the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose their residence.
This position was ultimately accepted by tribunal Deputy President, The Hon RNJ Purvis AM, QC, who instructed the Minister to issue an Australian passport to Abrams, noting her female gender.
Abrams has advised others in the same circumstance to apply for their passports now, while the decision still stands.
“There are a lot of couples in this situation who have to choose between having their gender recognised or their family,” she said.
“And that is why we went through this, to assert that this is an unfair situation and actually illegal to deny an Australian citizen a passport."
“We are the first officially, begrudgingly recognised same-sex couple."
Abrams’ lawyer David Shoebridge said the tribunal’s decision was a victory for common sense in the law over prejudice.
“Other transgendered people, whether they’re married or not, should now be able to get a passport without being monstered by incredulous policy positions within the department,” he said.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said the case set an important precedent for other transgender people.
“We know the Government is trying to make things more difficult for transgender people trying to get passports,” she said.
The Senator acknowledged that Abrams and Power now had a legally recognised same-sex marriage.
“And that is probably why the Government was fighting so hard in this court case, because they didn’t want that precedent to be set.”
