Tag: Tasmania

  • The Trans Rights Debate – Who’s Peddling the ‘Hate’?

    Emily Baker’s recent article in the Mercury titled ‘Penis stickers labelled hateful: Anger at anti-transgender campaign’ quoted Transforming Tasmania representative, Martine Delaney’s, opinion of the stickers. Delaney said the stickers expressed a view ‘actively promoted by only extremely conservative Christian groups and a very small percentage of women – TERFS (trans exclusionary radical feminists) –…

  • Transgender Campaign Misinformation Continues

    Roen Meijers of Transforming Tasmania continues to be confused about the issue of Birth Certificate registrations as it is not gender that is recorded, but sex. Additionally, the Options Paper on transgender law reform released for public consultation by former Anti-discrimination Commissioner, Robin Banks, in 2016 was only that – an Options Paper. The consultation…

  • Tasmanian Women’s Services Support Trans Law Reform, Then Shut Down Online Debate

    On 7 November, four Tasmanian Women’s Services – Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, Engender Equality, Hobart Women’s Shelter and Women’s Health Tasmania – issued a statement in support of Labor and the Greens proposed transgender law reforms. In that statement, Women Speak Tasmania was roundly criticised for opposing the reforms. “We believe allowing self-identification changes to…

  • Gender hate law sparks free speech fear

    Today, in an article for The Australian titled “Gender Hate Law Sparks Free Speech Fear” (9 November 2018), journalist Matthew Denholm reported on proposed amendments to Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act that would extend protections against hate speech to include “gender identity” and “gender expression.” The article explained that the proposed changes, put forward by the Labor…

  • Women’s Groups Intentionally Oversimplify the Impacts of Trans Law Reforms

    Yesterday’s joint statement by Tasmanian women’s groups, Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, Engender Equality, Hobart Women’s Shelter and Women’s Health Tasmania, continues the litany of oversimplified assurances about the benign nature of the radical birth registration and anti-discrimination law reforms proposed by Labor and the Greens. If they want to justify their claim that the amendments…

  • Greens Label Anti-Transgender Stickers Hateful

    The debate over gender markers on birth certificates has ramped up with anti-transgender stickers described as “hateful and hurtful” appearing throughout Hobart. The stickers are shaped like penises and carry the phrase “Women don’t have penises” Transforming Tasmania spokeswoman Martine Delaney said it was clear the stickers had been distributed by groups looking to deny…

  • Attack on Women’s Rights

    Women Speak Tasmania representatives met with Honourable Sue Hickey Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly to discuss our concerns about Labor and Greens fast tracking of reforms to changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act. Coincidentally The Mercury published a Letter to the Editor from Isla MacGregor outlining the implications of proposed…

  • O’Connor and White in Damage Control over Backlash on Transgender Reforms

    While Labor Opposition leader, Rebecca White, moves to distance the party from a deal with the Greens to fast track changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, the Greens Cassy O’Connor has resorted to accusations of transphobia against those calling for public consultation on the issue. ‘It’s now very clear the Tasmanian people…

  • Transforming Tasmania Shouldn’t Shut Down Birth Certificate Debate

    Transforming Tasmania’s proposed changes to birth registration and anti-discrimination law in Tasmania are radical amendments that shouldn’t be rushed through parliament. Labor and the Greens need to support the Government’s referral of those amendments to the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute so the Tasmanian people can have their say. These amendments, if they become law, will…

  • Women Speak Tasmania – Women’s Rights and Transgender Law Reform

    Policy Proposals on Anti-Discrimination Law and Birth Certificates Women Speak Tasmania (WST) has developed a set of policies that seek to restore clarity to the way sex and gender are treated in Tasmanian law. At the heart of these proposals is the principle that biological sex must be recognised and protected, while social identity should…