<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/sep/05/lesbian-action-group-trans-bisexual-women-ban-ahrc-ntwnfb>
"A lawyer for a Victorian lesbian group that wants to exclude transgender and
bisexual women from its public events has compared its request to a Melbourne
gay bar that was granted the right to refuse heterosexual people.
But a lawyer for the Australian Human Rights Commission said the Peel hotel’s
exemption had been granted under Victorian state law to help gay men achieve
equality, unlike the Lesbian Action Group’s application, which discriminates
against transgender women.
The Lesbian Action Group (LAG) has asked the administrative appeals tribunal to
overturn the human rights commission’s October decision preventing it from
excluding transgender and bisexual women from its public events.
During hearings in Melbourne on Monday and Tuesday, the presiding member,
Stewart Fenwick, heard the LAG maintains that transgender women are men and
seeks to discriminate against them under provisions in the Sex Discrimination
Act (SDA) that carve out space for lawful discrimination for the purpose of
achieving equality.
The LAG’s seven members claim they need to hold public events – as opposed to
private events that are not subject to the same laws – for the advocacy and
wellbeing of lesbian feminists.
But Dr Daye Gang, the commission’s counsel, said taking trans women out of the
protections of the SDA was a high bar to meet.
She said every group under the SDA was guaranteed the same bundle of rights and
there was no “hierarchy” of protected groups. “This is not a contest of who is
most marginalised,” she said.
The commission argued that granting the LAG an exemption from usual gender
discrimination laws could contribute to heightened health risks among
transgender lesbians. It also looked to last month’s landmark
Tickle v Giggle
federal court decision, which found transgender women were women and should
have access to women’s services such as LAG events."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
