{"id":701821,"date":"2026-05-29T08:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701821\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T08:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:49:09","slug":"former-womens-shed-board-member-banned-from-group-for-alleged-transphobic-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701821\/","title":{"rendered":"Former women’s shed board member banned from group for alleged transphobic comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former board member of Ballarat’s Women’s Shed has been banned from the organisation after allegedly making discriminatory comments about transgender members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The woman was evicted from the building on Wednesday after attempting to spread misinformation about transgender women, alleging female members were not safe in the presence\u00a0of transgender or gender-diverse people. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Women’s Shed Ballarat president, Sophie Potter, said the woman was asked to leave the shed, which they did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re aware that if they come back, we will be calling the police,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Potter said the member entered the shed and was “spewing” misinformation about transgender and gender diverse people. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“[They] indicated that women in the shed are not safe because of having trans members,” she said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The women’s shed opened in 2024 to provide women with opportunities to learn a variety of skills. (ABC News: Charlotte Wilkes)<\/p>\n

No transgender or gender-diverse identifying people were in the shed at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The incident occurred just weeks after a landmark Federal Court appeal that ruled in favour of a transgender woman who was discriminated against by a female-only app<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ABC has spoken to the former board member allegedly involved in the incident, but she declined to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safe and inclusive space<\/p>\n

After the incident, the women’s shed raised the issue in an online group to “reassure all members that our organisation remains committed to being a safe, respectful and inclusive space for women and gender-diverse people”.<\/p>\n

“We have been open to trans and gender-diverse people from the beginning, and they are definitely safe and welcoming members of the shed, the same as everyone else,” Ms Potter said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Obviously, for people who have come to our shed to use tools, do craft, and enjoy some companionship on a Wednesday, it’s very confronting to have someone come in and be spewing these views.”<\/p>\n

Ms Potter said the silver lining has been the outpouring of community support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Many of whom didn’t know our shed existed, but wanted to let all of the members of the shed know that they are welcome,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is definitely the first time we’ve had an incident of this nature. We are a place for people to find community and connection, first and foremost, that’s what we focus on.”<\/p>\n

Women’s Shed Ballarat opened in 2024, aiming to provide women with the chance to learn home maintenance skills, gain independence, and improve long-term financial standing.<\/p>\n

Unlike men’s sheds, the Women’s Shed Ballarat does not receive government funding and took nearly three years of fundraising to open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former board member of Ballarat’s Women’s Shed has been banned from the organisation after allegedly making discriminatory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,5214,341788,46785,15193,12632,341789,341787],"class_list":["post-701821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-community","tag-sophie-potter","tag-transgender","tag-transphobia","tag-women","tag-womens-shed","tag-womens-shed-ballarat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}