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A trans exclusionary group called the Lesbian Action Group (LAG) has been in court this week, appealing a decision by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that ruled the group could not legally exclude transgender women from its public events.

The activist group have 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 is the 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 exemption they seek would allow LAG to run public events, specifically events which provided goods and services such as food and beverages, and legally exclude trans women. Even if the exemption is not granted, the LAG is still free to hold private gatherings that exclude trans women and advertise for members in a way that spells out that trans women are not welcome.

The group has now appealed to the Federal Court after running a crowdfunding campaign that raised close to $40,000.

and told the court banning trans women from such events would go against the purpose of the Sex Discrimination Act and come at “too great a cost”.

“Trans lesbians see themselves and seek to manifest themselves to the world as women and lesbians. The exclusion here seeks to perpetuate the view that actually they are neither of those things,” senior counsel for the commission, Celia Winnett, said.

“Exclusion on the ground of a protected characteristic can be a vice … it can be a reflection that people are inferior on that basis.”

Inclusion apparently does not equal equality

LAG spokesperson Nicole Mowbray said public events were necessary in order to attract new members to the 15 already in the group, which must be a pressing priority for them.

“Young and emerging lesbians cannot find their people because we’ve been underground in order to keep [biological] males out of our dating pool and our events,”

LAG’s legal team has used as a primary example in court to argue for the exemption, which has an exemption under Victorian state law so it can refuse entry to anyone who may affect the safety or comfort of its homosexual male patrons.

But junior counsel for the commission, Andrew Bell, said this was different to LAG’s application because staff at the Peel explained to customers at the door that the bar catered to homosexual men and it was up to them to decide whether to enter.

Counsel for the LAG, Leigh Howard argued that the previous ART ruling did not properly consider the interests of cisgender lesbians, and that transgender women did not need to be included to be considered equal.

“Inclusion does not equal equality … there is nothing wrong with lesbians seeking their own exclusive space to the exclusion of the male gaze,” he said.

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 they first applied for the exemption in 2023, they were listed as a group of 8, which means they are increasing at roughly a rate of three new members per year.

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, with the intent of mocking their appearance, and and “want to groom lesbians into accepting them as lesbians.”

They also use trans discriminatory, and inaccurate, terms, such as referring to and saying “our bars & other spaces have taken over by…. .” AGP is a referencing , 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

It’s unclear what the difference between these actions and “hate” would look like.

LAG are represented pro bono by Senior Barrister Leigh Howard, Junior Barrister Dr Megan Blake and lawyer Katherine Dennis, however they have fundraised more than $40,000 . Much of their seems to come from overseas, where there are entrenched “gender critical” and TERF communities.

They told Star Observer that they have “significant national and international support, including from Martina Navratilova“, who is an anti-trans activist and former tennis player, who , and who was sacked as an ambassador by Athlete Ally, an organisation that campaigns for LGBTQ sports people.