Australia’s Lesbian Action Group Tries to Exclude Trans Women

One of the best things about being queer is the community. In most places you look, you can find groups of like-minded individuals who are sweet and caring. It’s very affirming to find a space with people who identify in a similar manner to you, and it helps not to feel so alienated.

Unfortunately, The Lesbian Action Group of Australia didn’t seem to get this memo. The organization sent a request to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) asking to be exempted from Australia’s anti-discrimination laws for five years so they could discriminate against and exclude trans and bisexual women from their events. While it shouldn’t have to be said so often, it is always good to remind certain individuals of a very simple and easy-to-understand truth: Trans women are women. The definition of a woman is, quite simply, someone who identifies as a woman. On that note, the bisexual erasure is baffling. Bisexual women still love women just the same as lesbian women love women.

For The Lesbian Action Group to even make this request is very strange. You would imagine that they would welcome anyone who is sapphic. Thankfully, the AHRC promptly rejected this request, with the verdict stating, “‘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.”

Of course, Carole Ann, a spokesperson of The Lesbian Action Group, was displeased by the verdict and all but painted herself as a fool with her complaints on social media. She erroneously stated that the Sex Discrimination Act was created in Australia solely to keep women safe and displayed a lack of knowledge of basic biology. For the record, let it be known that Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act was made to protect many people, not just cis women, but according to Anna Brown, Equality Australia’s chief executive, “The Sex Discrimination Act was amended in 2013 to protect LGBTIQ+ people and explicitly protects trans women and nonbinary people from unfair treatment.”