TRANS TENANT LEGALLY EVICTED
A New Zealand tenant (Kristine Ablinger ) was given 3 hours' notice, after which the Landlord evicted the tenant for being transgender. The eviction was ruled as lawful, due to the prohibition on discrimination in the provision of "Land, housing, and other accommodation" [ Human Rights Act 1993 (NZ), s53], exempting homeowners who share accommodation with their flatmate [ Human Rights Act 1993 (NZ), s54]. Another problem which has been highlighted is that the Human Rights Act 1993 (NZ) only protects against discrimination on the ground of "sex" & "sexual orientation" [ Human Rights Act 1993 (NZ), s21], not "gender identity". Whilst the NZ Human Rights Commission has interpreted "sex" to include gender, this is an unacceptable situation. The failure of this legal challenge highlights the need for reform:-
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1) "Gender" needs to be explicitly included for anti-discrimination protection.
2) Share accommodation should not be exempt from the general protection against accommodation discrimination (The reason the Ablinger legal challenge ultimately failed).
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