AHRC Says ‘Not Persuaded’ To Allow Lesbian Born Female Event To Legally Discriminate

The Australian Human Rights Commission has indicated that it was not inclined to grant Melbourne-based Lesbian Action Group an exemption to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity for its ‘lesbian born female’ event. 

The group applied for a five-year exemption from the anti-discrimination laws to celebrate International Lesbian Day at the Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda on October 15, 2023. The group said it wanted to invite only “Lesbians Born Females” and exclude “Heterosexual, Bisexual and Gay males, Heterosexual and Bisexual females, Transgender people and Queer plus people.”

The Pride Centre had already rejected LAG’s application to host the event at Australia’s first and only purpose-built LGBTQI community hub. 

The commission’s preliminary findings after hearing submissions for and against the exemption was signed by President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher.

The commission said it was “not persuaded it is appropriate and reasonable” to make a distinction between women based on whether they were cisgender or trans or if they were exclusively attracted to women and “exclude same-sex attracted women who are transgender, bisexual and queer”. 

A License To Discriminate

The Commission pointed out that the group had not given details on how it would enforce entry to the event if the exemption was granted. 

“The Application does not describe how the Lesbian Action Group proposes to make distinctions to limit the event, and any future events, to ‘lesbians born female’,” said the AHRC, adding, “Limiting participation in the manner proposed may involve questions about an attendee’s physical sex characteristics or the exclusivity of their same- sex attraction, which could reasonably be expected to intrude on an individual’s privacy and, in some cases, has the potential to amount to sexual or sex-based harassment.”

“The Commission does not consider it reasonable to grant a five-year exemption in such broad terms without details of the events and the opportunity for submissions from interested parties to engage with the question of whether it is reasonable in the circumstances to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity at these events.

‘Sad Stunt’

The LAG is comprised of eight members Jean Taylor, Carole Ann, Nicole Mowbray,  Sarah Yeomans, Jeanette Carrison,  Elizabeth Matthews, Elizabeth Smith and Celia Sexton. 

The group claimed it was set up to promote and organise events for “lesbian born females “without the fear of being hauled before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, as we have in the past and told our exclusive lesbian born female events are illegal and having to cancel them”.

The Pride Centre rejected the group’s application saying the group’s “request to hold an event that excludes and seeks to legally discriminate against people on the basis of their sex, sexuality and gender is inconsistent with the Pride Centre’s purpose”.

Dykes On Bikes accused the group of “weaponising nostalgia for the ‘good old days’, adding, “make no mistake, it is nothing more than dangerous transphobic rhetoric and hate, causing harm and creating division when we should be united.”

Equality Australia’s Anna Brown termed the groups application for exemption a “sad stunt”. Equality Australia and 13 other LGBTQI advocacy groups in a joint submission to AHRC said that while “they agreed it was important for lesbians to be able to gather as a community”, “it was unnecessary to exclude women who were transgender or bisexual.”