Coalition pushes to amend Sex Discrimination Act after Giggle v Tickle
The coalition is pushing to rewrite sex discrimination laws to define biological sex after a woman was found by the Federal Court to have discriminated against a transgender woman by removing her from a women-only networking app.
Earlier this month, the court upheld a finding that Giggle app founder Sall Grover twice directly discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle when he chose to remove Ms. Tickle from the network app.
In 2013, the federal government, then led by Julia Gillard, changed the law to make discrimination based on gender identity illegal.
However, the Law does not include the definition of male, female or gender.
On Monday, Nationals MP Alison Penfold introduced a private members’ bill which she said would include changes to ensure “gender is binary and biological”.
“The current Act sees sex on a spectrum and gender can vary, which has effectively allowed the court to take women’s rights into their own sphere,” Ms Penfold said.
He clarified that he was not trying to eliminate gender identity as a protected characteristic.
“I’m not seeking blanket discrimination against transgender Australians,” Ms Penfold said. “I’m just trying to reflect reality and create the space, choice and safety that women need.
“And that shouldn’t be controversial.”
Speaking alongside Ms Penfold, national pageant leader Matt Canavan said the changes were meant to highlight the “uniqueness” between biological men and women.
“Then we can still identify and protect those with diverse gender identities,” she said.
“But there is something unique about a biological female, about a biological male, and that is the binary definition of biological sexes that does not currently exist in our laws, probably unintentionally.
“I’m not sure Julia Gillard’s government even knew what they were doing so long ago.”
Ms Grover was also present at the press conference and welcomed the opposition’s support.
“Women and girls need legal protection,” he said.
“I would really like this issue to be resolved as quickly as possible.”
