The woman behind a landmark United Nations committee decision decrying Australia's laws around marriage and gender transition says the current law is "a joke" and the decision should prompt the government to legislate marriage equality.

BuzzFeed News revealed this week that the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that Australian laws requiring married transgender people to divorce before they can change the sex on their birth certificate are in violation of international human rights law.

In a decision made on March 17 and published on June 15, the committee found in favour of a married transgender woman from New South Wales, identified only as G, who had tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to change the sex on her birth certificate.

It is a significant ruling for Australia, where laws with this effect exist in six of the eight states and territories. Read more via Buzzfeed