A Victorian lesbian group has won a legal appeal in its case to exclude transgender women from its public events after the federal court set aside a decision by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).<\/p>\n
The decision on Wednesday afternoon means the case will return to the administrative review tribunal for another determination. While the Lesbian Action Group called the finding a \u201cdefinite win\u201d, Equality Australia said the judge \u201csimply identified legal errors in the tribunal\u2019s reasoning\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Lesbian Action Group (LAG) applied to the AHRC<\/a> for a five-year exemption under the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) to allow it to exclude transgender and bisexual women from its public events, which it said were exclusively for lesbians who were assigned female at birth.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The commission ruled against the LAG, so the group asked the administrative appeals tribunal<\/a>, now known as the administrative review tribunal, to overturn the decision. The tribunal upheld the AHRC<\/a> last January, leading the LAG to take their case to the federal court.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Justice Mark Moshinsky ordered the tribunal\u2019s decision be set aside.<\/p>\n Moshinsky said that exemptions to the SDA could be allowed given that \u201cproperly construed, the word \u2018sex\u2019 in the SDA means biological sex\u201d and because the act did not seek to eliminate discrimination \u201cat all costs\u201d.<\/p>\n Contrary to what the tribunal ruled, he found it was possible that discrimination could be \u201cjustified\u201d if it had an overall positive outcome.<\/p>\n He also found the tribunal failed to regard two key principles: the \u201cindivisibility and universality of human rights\u201d, and that \u201cevery person is free and equal in dignity and rights\u201d.<\/p>\n The historic case has been at the centre of a heated debate regarding the rights of transgender people and their freedom to associate in public, and raises legal questions about sex-based rights in Australia.<\/p>\n