Lesbian Action Group’s Appeal To Exclude Trans Women Sent Back To Administrative Review Tribunal
Image: Most of the Lesbian Action Group. Credit Lesbian Action Group/ Twitter
A tribunal ruling that the Lesbian Action Group couldn’t exclude transgender women from its events has been set aside by the Federal Court. The matter will now be remitted back to the Administrative Review Tribunal for consideration.
In a short ruling, the court ordered that the appeal be allowed, and the matter remitted to the Administrative Review Tribunal for determination according to law. They also ordered that the Administrative Review Tribunal decision on this matter that they already made back in 2025 be set aside, essentially handballing the case between courts.
“This is a technical win for LAG on two points of legal process. It is not a ruling on whether excluding trans women is lawful or justified,” explains Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.
“The court has not endorsed discrimination against trans women, and it has not decided whether the exemption should be granted. It has simply identified legal errors in the tribunal’s reasoning, so the matter must now be reconsidered. Importantly, the substantive questions about trans rights were not decided in this case.”
The anti-trans activist group has been seeking an exemption to the Sex Discrimination Act so it can legally prevent transgender women from attending its events and discriminate against their identity. This would allow LAG to run public events, specifically events which provided goods and services such as food and beverages, and legally exclude trans women. LAG has always had the option to hold private gatherings that exclude trans women and advertise for members in a way that spells out that trans women are not welcome.
This is the third time that the small Victorian group of only around 15 people has applied for a five year exemption, failing both previous times — once by the Australian Human Rights Commission and again on appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), which ruled that “overt acts of discrimination” should not be allowed.
The group then appealed to the Federal Court after running a crowdfunding campaign that raised close to $40,000. It is now going back to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
LAG spokesperson Nicole Mowbray has described the continuing legal battle as a “definite win” outside court.
Who are the Lesbian Action Group?
The Melbourne-based Lesbian Action Group describe themselves on their website as “a long standing group which has revitalised itself in response to a number of recent social and political conditions which have had serious negative impacts on the rights of women and lesbians in particular”.
When looking through the “mission” on their website, they specify that the purpose of the Lesbian Action Group is to “support Lesbians who were born female”. This trans exclusionary manifesto carries through to their campaigns section, which only list their various legal battles against the Australian Human Rights Commission to exclude trans people from their hypothetical events. It’s unclear if they have campaigned on any other issues relevant to lesbians, or if they focus only on anti-trans campaigning.
However they have also been granted intervener status in the trans exclusionary Tickle v Giggle case, because of their “special interest in creating female-only spaces”.
LAG claim that they do not “hate” trans women. In a statement sent to Star Observer, they say, “We are not anti anyone; we simply want to be able to have lesbian events for lesbian women to the exclusion of males.”
However, a quick scan of their social media accounts, including their active X (Twitter) account, shows that they regularly engage in anti-trans rhetoric, such as calling trans identity “conversion therapy”, post pictures of trans people with the intent of mocking their appearance, and claim that trans women are “sinister” and “want to groom lesbians into accepting them as lesbians.”
They also use trans discriminatory, and inaccurate, terms, such as referring to “the gender cult” and saying “our bars & other spaces have taken over by…. middle-aged AGPs.” AGP is referencing “autogynephilia”, which puts forward the debunked and offensive theory that trans people transition because they are “sexually aroused” by the idea of being a woman, and that trans identity is a paraphilia.
This is reminiscent of rhetoric about gay, lesbian, and bi people’s sexualities being classified as a “mental disorder”.
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