A new campaign encouraging people to write to their local politicians asking them to bring in laws that would exclude transgender women and girls from single-sex sports and spaces has been launched.
The ‘Respect My Sex If You Want My Vote’ campaign is being spearheaded by Western Australian Karyn Lisignoli and was announced in The Australian newspaper.
The campaign will encourage voters to write to their local representatives insisting they back laws which would exclude transgender people from single-sex sport and spaces in order to gain support at the federal election.
Lisignoli, who was fleetingly employed as the Chief Executive Officer of Girl Guides WA, is one of the voices behind the campaign.
“Australians don’t know what’s going on,” she told The Australian. “There’s been a radical agenda pushed for decades and now it’s captured the institutions and average mums and dads don’t know about it, which is the reason why when I was terminated from Girls Guides and went public about it … the overwhelming response was from people who just had no idea how that could happen.”
The campaign is based on a similarly named push in the United Kingdom called ‘Respect My Sex if You Want My X’.
Joining Lisignoli in the campaign is University of Sydney Academic Bronwyn Winter, Stassja Frei, the founder of the Coalition of Biological Reality, and Sal Grover, founder of the women only social media app Giggle.
While Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves and Tasmanian Senator Claire Chandler have been pushing for laws regarding transgender women’s participation in sport. This new campaign also asks people to contact their political representatives if they have concerns about transgender people using bathrooms.
“Should lesbian women have the right to single-sex spaces and events without the presence of men that call themselves ‘lesbians’?” is one of the questions the campaign asks.
The campaign also calls for children to be given “robust psychotherapy” rather than treatment that involves puberty blocking medication or hormones, and encourages people to ask their MPs if they think “schools should be allowed to let youth socially transition without the knowledge or consent of their parents.”
A federal inquiry into the medical treatment of transgender youth is also one of the group’s demands.
Jackie Turner, trans equality advocate from Equality Australia said this is a campaign that aims to divide the community, highlighting that transgender people just wanted to be themselves and build a good life like everyone else.
“Every person in Australia deserves to live their life with dignity and respect, free from discrimination.
“All trans people want is the freedom to be ourselves and the same opportunities as everyone else to build a good life. But this campaign seeks to divide our community and eliminate trans people from public life.
“We know from our research that they are also out of step with 78% of people in Australia who believe that trans and gender diverse deserve the same rights and protections as everyone else.”
“We urge all political parties and candidates seeking election to reject these ugly politics of division and commit treating trans and gender diverse people – and the LGBTIQ+ community more broadly – with the dignity and respect we deserve.” Wilson said.
OIP Staff
Update: 22-04-22 6:51am Additional comment from Equality Australia added.
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