‘Lesbian Born Female’ Event Organisers Do Not Represent Broader Community: Dykes On Bikes Melbourne
Image: Dykes On Bikes Melbourne members at the Trans Day of Visibility March in March 2023. Image: Dykes on Bikes Melbourne/ Facebook.
A Melbourne-based group that has applied for anti-discrimination law exemptions to hold a ‘lesbian born female event’ which excludes trans and bisexual women do not represent the broader lesbian community, Dykes on Bikes said.
The newly formed Lesbian Action Group Melbourne said they wanted to celebrate International Lesbian Day at the Victorian Pride Centre in St Kilda on October 15, 2023.
They applied to the Australian Human Rights Commission for an exemption 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 rejected the group’s application and the AHRC is due to give its ruling on LAG’s plea.
Dangerous And Provocative Rhetoric
In their submissions to the AHRC, around 14 LGBTQI advocacy groups said they agreed it was important for lesbians to be able to gather as a community” but “it was unnecessary to exclude women who were transgender or bisexual.”
“LAG is weaponising nostalgia for the “good old days” as their pitch to convince the public that their ‘Lesbians born women only’ event is acceptable,” Dykes On Bikes Communications Officer Kieran Cavanagh said in a statement, reiterating that LAG did not “represent the broader lesbian community.”
“Make no mistake, it is nothing more than dangerous transphobic rhetoric and hate, causing harm and creating division when we should be united,” said Cavanagh.
“Our lesbian community is extremely vast and diverse, and that is a pillar of its strength. Without our trans sisters or queer elders, we would not have the freedoms and rights we celebrate today or the insight and knowledge for the challenges ahead.”
According to Dykes on Bikes Melbourne the club’s motto was “fun, freedom, and friendship, and that includes the freedoms of all lesbians and queer+ women. We stand proudly with our trans sisters and nonbinary family and will continue fighting against LAG’s discriminatory and inflammatory transphobic exemption request. There is space for all of us, and nobody needs to be excluded,” added Cavanagh.
Sad Stunt
Equality Australia’s Anna Brown termed LAG’s exemption application as a “sad stunt”, while Switchboard Victoria CEO Joe Ball said its aim was to divide the community and erode solidarity between different communities.
TransEquality Coordinator Max Pick said that there had been an outpouring of support following the “troubling” application and the joint submission “shows why it is so important for us to coordinate our efforts in the face of these deliberate attempts to exclude trans lives from public spaces.”
The groups who signed the joint submission include the Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council Inc., Drummond Street Services, Dykes on Bikes Melbourne, Human Rights Law Centre, LGBTI Legal Service Inc., Melbourne Bisexual Network, Midsumma, Parents of Gender Diverse Children, Rainbow Community Angels, Switchboard, Trans Justice Project, Transgender Victoria, Transcend Australia and Zoe Belle Gender Collective
The joint submission questioned how LAG proposed to police the sex characteristics of the women who planned to attend the event.
Good on you for standing up for what’s right !
We need solidarity to keep our rights, not fragmentation.
Very proud of you my sisters
Dykes on Bikes have spoken well, bless them. The organisers of ‘Lesbians Born Female’ seem to forget lesbian folks can come from a range of gender identities (transgender, nonbinary, etc — gender is a spectrum and not something linear; i can say as a nonbinary lesbian) and some of us simply aren’t cisgender, plus, our trans sisters and siblings have been a pillar in our communities for many years.
The exclusion of trans women and bisexual women is simply rooted in transphobia and biphobia and they should be ashamed of themselves.
Yes a big THANK YOU to Dykes on Bikes as they are amazing, and I am glad they stand up for trans people as over all inclusion. Keep protecting us when others don’t.
THANK YOU.
The organisers of “Lesbians Born Female” seem to forget that trans women feel that they were born female! It appears that how our brains are wired determines how we identify, rather than our genitalia. It’s a poorly understood mechanism but millions of trans women can’t be wrong.
The rise of the ‘LGB without the T’ movement is alarming. They are using the same fear-mongering and hate-filled rhetoric that has been used against lesbians and gay people. Dykes on Bikes are legends and I’m grateful to them and the other signatories for standing up against bigotry and showing that we are stronger together.
The Dykes on Bikes are my heroes. I love you ladies so much and cannot say how much your support, advocacy and allyship mean to me and my trans siblings. Thank you.