Gender-critical lesbian group can’t ban trans women from meetings, tribunal rules

A tribunal has ruled that a gender-critical lesbian group cannot exclude transgender and bisexual women from their events.

Lesbian Action Group, an organisation associated with the Australian branch of anti-trans organisation LGB Alliance, had its request to overturn a previous ruling, and make its events for cis lesbians only, denied.

In September 2023, the Victoria-based group applied to the Australian Human Rights Commission for an exemption from the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) so they could hold events for “lesbians born female” only, thus excluding trans and bisexual cis women.

Under the 2010 Equal Opportunity Act, the state of Victoria can grant temporary exemptions to anti-discrimination laws if it can be proved that the exclusion would “help the act’s goal of promoting equal opportunity” and the proposed action was “a reasonable limitation on the right to equality set out in the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities”.

The group’s lawyer cited a previous case where Melbourne’s Peel Hotel was granted an exemption under state law to refuse entrance to heterosexuals and lesbians. The exemption was later extended to include anyone who upset the “character” of the gay venue.

The human rights commission ruled against the group, saying that granting an exemption could lead to further exclusion of, and discrimination against, transgender women.

“The commissioner submits that the word ‘sex’ is not a biological concept referring to whether a person at birth had male or female physical traits. Nor is it a binary concept, limited to the ‘male’ or ‘female’ sex,” the ruling read.

“‘Sex’ can refer to a person being male, female or another non-binary state. It is also broad enough to encompass the idea that a person’s ‘sex’ can be changed.”

The group sought to overturn the ruling, but on Monday (20 January) senior member at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Stewart Fenwick upheld the original decision.

Lesbian Action Group identified as “a discrete minority within a group in the community that is already identified by their sex and sexual orientation, characteristics that afford them the protection of the SDA”, he said, and they “seek to actively discriminate against another group in the community identifiable by their gender identity, a characteristic also protected under the SDA”.

Endorsing overt acts of discrimination cannot be the intended effect of exemptions under Australian law, he added.

Lesbian Action Group spokeswoman Carole Ann described the ruling as devastating.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, she said: “The lesbian community in Australia has been decimated over the past few decades. We’re a huge country so it is really difficult to find [one another] unless we can advertise publicly and the numbers of women who have been able to find each other has dwindled.

“On dating apps there are men on there, anything else has to include the whole rainbow family, plus whoever wants to go. Without an exemption, we are back in the closet.”

The group is considering appealing against the ruling.

In recent years, there have been several cases focused on sex and gender in Australia.

In August, trans woman Roxanne Tickle won a case against female-only social media app Giggle and was awarded A$10,000 (approximately £5,000/$6,300) plus costs after a judge found she had been indirectly discriminated against.