Supporting the Lesbian Action Group and the Fight for Sex-Based Rights
Tomorrow, the Federal Court in Melbourne will hear a case that goes to the heart of what it means to be a lesbian in Australia. There has been no case in living memory focused so directly on the right of lesbians to organise on the basis of sex. We stand with the Lesbian Action Group, and we are proud to do so.
LAG, a small group of lesbians acting without major backing, has argued that Australian law must recognise biological sex as a material reality. After rejection by the Australian Human Rights Commission and an adverse decision from the Administrative Review Tribunal, they have appealed to the Federal Court. They have done this relying on donations and a dedicated legal team, and without the support of the bodies that were built to serve them.
The Australian Human Rights Commission are using public funds to defend that decision in the Federal Court, opposing lesbians' right to single-sex spaces with money that belongs to all of us.
At the centre of this case are fundamental questions. What does it mean to be lesbian, gay or bisexual? Can lesbians, gays and bi-sexuals meet in their own communities? Being lesbian, gay or bisexual means being attracted to people of the same sex. It is not a matter of self-declaration or identity performance. It is a material reality.
Lesbians and gay men fought, often at great personal cost, for the right to live openly in accordance with their same-sex attraction. They sought the freedom to associate with others like themselves and to have that reality recognised in law. Spaces organised around same-sex attraction have long served a legitimate and necessary purpose.
For any woman who had the benefit of women's dances in the 1970s to 1990s, or the lesbian bars and coffee lounges where women could meet, fall in love and simply be, this principle is not abstract. Those spaces made love and community possible. LAG is fighting to ensure that the legal foundations for such spaces are not quietly dismantled while we look the other way.
The LAG case raises questions of lasting significance for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people in Australia. It asks whether the law will protect the right of lesbians to exist, to gather, and to be known by what they are.
The Lesbian Action Group stood up when it mattered. They have our full support.
You can follow the livestream of the case on the Federal Court YouTube channel and you can donate to their fighting fund.
LGB Alliance Australia