Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) rights in Western Australia have seen significant progress since the beginning of the 21st century, with male sexual activity legal since 1990 and the state parliament passing comprehensive anti-discrimination law reforms in 2002. As part of those reforms, Western Australia was the first state within Australia to grant full adoption rights to same-sex couples in 2002, though the last to permit non-commercial surrogacy agreements involving same-sex couples within mid-August 2026 by a Supreme Court and Court of Appeals ruling. As of September 2026, Western Australia (plus Tasmania) are the only places left within Australia that still has not explicitly criminally prohibited conversion therapy practices on individuals.
Laws regarding sexual activity In December 1989, the Parliament of Western Australia passed the Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act 1989 which decriminalised private sexual acts between two people of the same sex and went into effect on 23 March 1990.Gay Law Reform in Australian States and territories The Act was however, one of the strictest gay law reform acts in Australia, as it made the age of consent for homosexual sex acts between males 21, whilst lowering the heterosexual age of consent to 16. The Act also created new homosexual-oriented offences under state law, including making it a crime for a person to "...promote or encourage homosexual behaviour as part of the teaching in any primary or secondary educational institutions..." or make public policy with respect to the undefined promotion of homosexual behaviour.Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act 1989
LGBT people in Western Australia achieved equalisation of consent ages in 2002 via the Acts Amendment (Gay and Lesbian Law Reform) Act 2002, which also repealed the laws with respect to promotion of homosexual behaviour in public policy and in educational institutions.Acts Amendment (Gay and Lesbian Law Reform) Act 2002 full text
Historical convictions expungement Western Australia was one of the last Australian jurisdictions to pass a law allowing individuals to apply to have historical homosexual convictions or charges expunged from their criminal records.
Following homosexual decriminalisation in 1990, attempts to reform the law only gained traction in the mid-2010s. In April 2016, the Law Society of Western Australia submitted a detailed proposal to the state Attorney-General, recommending a scheme be implemented to allow individuals who have been convicted of an historical homosexual offence apply to have that conviction be expunged. Prior to the 2017 state election, both major parties in Western Australia discussed the prospect of expunging consensual homosexual sex crimes, with the opposition Labor Party pledging to implement such a scheme if elected and the incumbent Coalition government stating it would consider the proposal. After comfortably winning the election, the McGowan Labor government introduced expungement legislation (the Historical Homosexual Convictions Expungement Bill 2017) to the Legislative Assembly on 1 November 2017. The legislation requires those applying for an expunged record to satisfy a mandatory test to ensure their conduct constituted a historical homosexual offence. The consent of all parties and respective ages at the time is taken into account and family members of deceased victims are able to apply for an expungement on their behalf. Labor leader and Premier, Mark McGowan, also issued a formal apology in Parliament to the LGBTIQ community in Western Australia for the anti-homosexuality laws of the past. The bill passed the Assembly on 22 February 2018 and passed the Legislative Council with amendments attached later that year on 23 August. The Legislative Assembly approved of the council's amendments on 11 September 2018 and the bill received royal assent on 18 September 2018. The law went into effect on 15 October 2018.
Expungement or spent conviction schemes are legally available within all other Australian jurisdictions.
Conversion therapy ban No laws within Western Australia currently ban conversion therapy. The government made an announcement formally that a bill would only be introduced, after the March 2025 state election. WA is the only mainland state to still legally allow these practices.
Transgender rights
Western Australian law recognises a transgender person's change of sex. Prior to 2012 the state required the person to undergo sterilisation before approving a change in sex classification. This requirement was overturned when the High Court of Australia ruled, in the 2012 case of AB v Western Australia, that two transgender men who had undergone mastectomies and hormone treatment did not need to undergo sterilisation to obtain a gender recognition certificate.Human Rights Commission, AB v Western Australia In August 2018, the government introduced legislation to the Parliament of Western Australia that repealed the requirement that one must be "unmarried" for a change of sex to registered on one's birth certificate. The bill passed the lower house on 20 November 2018 and passed the upper house on 12 February 2019. The bill received royal assent on 19 February 2019 and commenced on 19 March 2019.
Transgender prison policy In November 2020, it was reported that transgender prisoners can be housed according to their own gender identity for strict health and safety reasons under recently implemented policies – so long as they commit no sexual offences on their criminal record.
Suicide of a 15 year old transgender teenager In April 2021, a suicide of a 15 year old transgender teenager in Perth caused mass outrage within the Western Australia LGBTIQ+ community – that has called for archaic WA legislation regarding sex or gender on a birth certificate to be reformed immediately. Western Australia Supreme Court In October 2021, in a legal first precedent within Australia, a family completely lost custody of their own children by a court order – for continuing abusing their own transgender child.
Abolishing the WA Gender Reassignment Board In September 2024, the Births, Deaths, Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Act 2024 was passed by both chambers to formally abolish and repeal the WA Gender Reassignment Board. The act allows male, female, "indeterminate/intersex" and nonbinary options on an individual's birth certificate and to change sex on a birth certificate requirement is "appropriate clinical treatment" sign off by a doctor, nurse or psychologist only once a year – no sexual reassignment surgery is required. The act received with royal assent on 26 September 2024. The recent act went into effect on 30 May 2025.
A $195 fee to change sex on a birth certificate within WA has to be paid non-refundable, and up to 4 weeks expected waiting according to the WA BDM website.
Intersex rights
In March 2017, representatives of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia and Organisation Intersex International Australia participated in an Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand consensus "Darlington Statement" by intersex community organizations and others. The statement calls for legal reform, including the criminalisation of deferrable intersex medical interventions on children, an end to legal classification of sex, and improved access to peer support.
Recognition of same-sex relationships De facto unions Western Australia is one of two jurisdictions in Australia (the other being the Northern Territory) not to offer relationship registries and official domestic partnership schemes to same-sex or de facto couples. Labor Party leader Mark McGowan said the party would consider introducing civil unions during the 2017 state election, though this never eventuated following the national legalisation of same-sex marriage later that year (see below). West Australian family law has provided same-sex and other couples with de facto unions since 2002. In order for a same-sex couple to be officially recognised as a de facto union, or for de facto same-sex couples to legally remedy divorce proceedings, the Family Court of Western Australia is charged with permitting that recognition or divorce. These state laws recognise same-sex couples rights to next of kin recognition, partner's state superannuation and compensation in the event of partner's death, amidst a whole host of other things.Equality Rules WA Report Same-sex couples in Western Australia and their relationships are also covered by federal law,Same-sex law reform: Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia ensuring that same-sex de facto partners are provided with most of the same entitlements as married partners.
Relationship declaration programs Relationship declaration programs have been introduced by two local governments in Western Australia, namely the City of Vincent and the Town of Port Hedland. The City of Vincent's scheme, introduced in 2012, was discontinued in 2018. Port Hedland's scheme was adopted in 2015 and rescinded in 2021.
Same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage became legal in Western Australia, and in the rest of Australia, in December 2017, after the Federal Parliament passed a law legalising same-sex marriage. Prior to this, in September 2015, the West Australian Parliament passed a motion calling on the federal parliament to have a conscience vote on same-sex marriage legislation.
Adoption and parenting rights Adoption Same-sex couples are permitted to adopt in Western Australia as a result of the Acts Amendment (Gay and Lesbian Law Reform) Act 2002 which in turn amended the Adoption Act 1994 to include same-sex couples as eligible to adopt a child and include provisions for same-sex step-parent adoptions.
Since April 2018, all Australian jurisdictions legally allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
Assisted reproduction The 2002 Act is extensive in that also amends several other Acts to enable same-sex couples have access to assisted reproductive technology including in-vitro fertilisation and artificial insemination (see Parts 4 and 11 of the Act). The Act further stipulates (in Part 4, Section 26) that the de facto female partner of a pregnant woman conceived via assisted reproductive technology is automatically considered as the second legal parent of that child for the purpose of state law, once the birth has occurred. A same-sex couple who utilises artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilisation treatment together (i.e. both parties present as a couple throughout the treatment) are able to have both names on the birth certificate once the child is born.
Surrogacy