{"id":118878,"date":"2025-11-05T07:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T07:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/118878\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T07:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T07:16:07","slug":"human-rights-review-tribunal-hears-final-arguments-in-lava-v-wellington-pride-festival-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/118878\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Review Tribunal hears final arguments in Lava v Wellington Pride Festival dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marg Curnow and Hilary Oxley,<\/a> on behalf of Lava, have asked the tribunal to issue a declaration that Wellington Pride unlawfully discriminated against the group when it cancelled the stall booking based on Lava\u2019s gender-critical political opinions.<\/p>\n

Over the past two days, the parties have presented their closing submissions to a four-person panel at the Wellington District Court.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"HilaryHilary Oxley and Margaret Curnow, members of Lesbian Action for Visibility in Aotearoa (Lava). <\/p>\n

Out in the City <\/p>\n

According to Lava\u2019s statement of claim, Wellington <\/a>Pride publicly advertised its annual \u201cOut in the City\u201d fair, inviting groups to book stalls, in December 2020.<\/p>\n

Lava booked and paid for a stall, intending to display a large map showing places of historical, political, and social significance around Wellington, to raise awareness of community history and culture, and to inspire younger lesbians.<\/p>\n

In early March 2021, Lava protested outside the Ministry for Women on International Women\u2019s Day, waving placards saying: \u201cFemale is not a feeling. Don\u2019t skew data. Biology is fact\u201d and \u201cWomen = adult human female\u201d, a phrase used by British anti transgender campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker).<\/p>\n

Members of the LGBT community alerted Wellington Pride to Lava\u2019s views about trans women, forwarding the protest photos.<\/p>\n

Lava then received an email from Wellington Pride cancelling the stall.<\/p>\n

When pressed on its decision, Wellington Pride said it supported society\u2019s most marginalised, including transgender wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that any organisation involved in the Pride Festival should be standing side by side with our most marginalised in our communities\u201d, Vivian Lyngdoh, Pride board chair and festival organiser, told Oxley.<\/p>\n

Wellington Pride disagreed with Lava\u2019s views and its opinions, which, according to the statement of claim, implied that trans women are not women and so cannot be lesbians.<\/p>\n

The statement said Wellington Pride also understood Lava\u2019s views included that trans women should not be permitted in spaces reserved for females, including changing rooms, prisons, and refuges.<\/p>\n

As a result, Wellington Pride said trans people wouldn\u2019t feel \u201csafe\u201d if Lava representatives were at the fair.<\/p>\n

\"WellingtonWellington Pride Festival.<\/p>\n

Lava members were distressed and hurt by the cancellation, arguing the stall was never going to reference the different opinions between Lava and Wellington Pride regarding trans women, or promote Lava\u2019s opinion on the issue.<\/p>\n

They say they were discriminated against based on their political opinions.<\/p>\n

\"NicoletteNicolette Levy, KC, is representing Lava before the Human Rights Review Tribunal.<\/p>\n

You cannot discriminate for people\u2019s thoughts <\/p>\n

Barrister Nicolette Levy, KC, representing Lava, said Pride argued it wanted to provide a safe space for trans people, but what really occurred was the exclusion of a small group of lesbians merely for holding an unwelcome political view.<\/p>\n

Lava is part of the Pride community, she said. Being inclusive meant including lesbians with all political views, and not excluding people simply because of their thoughts and beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot discriminate based on what political views they hold in their heads \u2013 which you will only know if they have previously manifested them, and which may or may not be known or well known to the public \u2013 any more than you can discriminate against them [for] being old or Greek or disabled or Anglican.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levy said while Pride knew about Lava\u2019s views, Lava knew the fair wasn\u2019t a political event and planned to display only the map at their stall. Organisers didn\u2019t engage with Lava to discuss the parameters of its participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo attempt was made to ascertain whether the content of the Lava stall would reflect the political opinions to which Pride objected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lava did not intend to be provocative or to speak its \u201ctruths\u201d to people not interested in hearing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLava does not accept that their views were deeply unwelcome to all within the rainbow community. The \u2018hard conversations\u2019, which Wellington Pride said they were there for, include how groups with different views can exist in the community together, as they have done in the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

More broadly, Levy submitted, Lava\u2019s \u201ctrans exclusionary\u201d views were well known by Pride\u2019s board, and were a \u201cstandard set\u201d of gender critical political opinions which centred on the harms caused to women\u2019s rights and language by allowing males to identify as women by references to an internal feeling.<\/p>\n

The evidence had shown that gender critical views are not about hate, and don\u2019t include that trans people \u201cdon\u2019t exist\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are about maintaining existing same-sex protections and language, for the benefit of women.<\/p>\n

\u201cSociety does, and must, tolerate those views, and also the rights of trans people to advocate for solutions that maximise their ability to flourish in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The barrister said it wasn\u2019t Lava\u2019s position that gender diversity shouldn\u2019t be accommodated. <\/p>\n

While Lava opposed trans women using women\u2019s spaces, she said that didn\u2019t mean it believed trans women couldn\u2019t be a part of society, pointing out that as far back as the 1980s, Lava recognised that trans sexuals needed protection from discrimination.<\/p>\n

In any event, the problem was for society to solve, with third spaces or open categories. Women asserting their own rights are not required to have all the answers, she said.<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaVictoria Casey, KC, is representing Wellington Pride before the Human Rights Review Tribunal. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

Public advocacy, not private opinions, the problem<\/p>\n

It was a point Pride\u2019s representative, Victoria Casey, KC, challenged, saying Lava\u2019s closing submissions focused on the protection of single sex spaces for (cis) women.<\/p>\n

Lava believed that if society acknowledged trans women as women, that would leave no space for cis women to exclude trans women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is simply wrong. The Human Rights Act has always allowed for these type of exceptions, where justified in human rights terms. Acknowledging trans women as women doesn\u2019t and hasn\u2019t changed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also took issue with Lava\u2019s claim that the group planned to display only a map at the stall, when the evidence had shown it intended to be provocative.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir display already included anti trans sentiments, they planned to have a highly provocative handout, and the records of their planned meeting show that they recognised that their display might be vandalised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey said Lava was declined for the simple reason that it was a public advocacy group promoting anti trans (trans exclusionary) views, which was uncontested evidence.<\/p>\n

Stalls were offered to a limited section of the public who met the event\u2019s kaupapa of inclusion and celebration of diversity, which Lava didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

She submitted that Lava was aware of the selection process and criteria for stalls, and knew that another anti-trans lesbian group had earlier been declined a stall \u2013 a fact that was recorded on its map display.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was its public advocacy, not the privately held views of its members, that was the problem. If the public advocacy does not fall within the meaning of \u2018political opinion\u2019, then Lava\u2019s claim fails,\u201d she told the tribunal.<\/p>\n

Pride submits that Lava\u2019s views don\u2019t fit the definition of political opinion, and so are not protected.<\/p>\n

And it also told the tribunal that Lava\u2019s stance of denying the existence of trans and gender diverse identities was damaging and denied trans people basic human rights.<\/p>\n

The tribunal heard that those who hold gender critical views argue that sex is absolute \u2013 all humans are male or female from birth, and that doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

Casey told the hearing that watchdog organisations had condemned and warned about the gender-critical campaign, drawing clear links between the public promotion of gender-critical views and the increasing risk and reality of direct harm and violence to gender diverse communities.<\/p>\n

Are Lava\u2019s views political opinions?<\/p>\n

Casey submitted that while the NZ Bill of Rights Act protects freedom of belief in general, the Human Rights Act (HRA) doesn\u2019t protect any other kind of privately held beliefs, except religion.<\/p>\n

Under the act, people and businesses can\u2019t discriminate against people on the basis of political opinion. Lava argues it should have a protected political opinion under the act.<\/p>\n

Wellington Pride says Lava has the freedom rights to hold and express its views, but that doesn\u2019t amount to a protected political opinion.<\/p>\n

Pride says to acknowledge that would be contrary to the principles and objectives of the act, which is designed to enhance protection for marginalised groups, \u201cnot endow special status for those who set out to deliberately harm them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Lava\u2019s views are protected under the HRA, the state would reach in and force Wellington Pride to let them in, by making it unlawful for them to refuse. This is a major infringement on Wellington\u2019s Pride\u2019s rights of freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision was reserved, with members indicating they would endeavour to get a decision out as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marg Curnow and Hilary Oxley, on behalf of Lava, have asked the tribunal to issue a declaration that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6790,13731,5131,5904,1350,16420,78,47772,111,43,139,69,55233,762,12718,6847,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-118878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-arguments","9":"tag-dispute","10":"tag-festival","11":"tag-final","12":"tag-hears","13":"tag-human","14":"tag-in","15":"tag-lava","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-pride","21":"tag-review","22":"tag-rights","23":"tag-tribunal","24":"tag-wellington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}