Australian lesbian rights group wins transgender exclusion appeal
The Lesbian Action Group is seeking a five-year exemption under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to exclude trans women
By Aaron Sugg
An Australian lesbian rights group has won a legal appeal in its bid to ban transgender women from its public events for the next five years.
The ruling, handed down today (15 April), is not yet final, as the case will return to the Administrative Review Tribunal for reconsideration after having previously been voided.
Lesbian Action Group (LAG) is seeking a five-year exemption under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to hold events exclusively for lesbians assigned female at birth.
Lesbian Action Group filed the same case in 2023, but was voided
The group first applied for the exemption in 2023, but its request was rejected by the Australian Human Rights Commission and later dismissed by the tribunal.
Mark Moshinsky, a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, set aside the tribunal’s earlier decision today, claiming that the body had made legal errors in their reasoning.
He ruled that exemptions to discrimination law could be allowed if the group could demonstrate a more positive outcome without the inclusion of transgender women.
We are fighting @AusHumanRights for the rights of lesbians to freely associate without the mandated presence of men who say they are lesbians. Please support in this fight and donate to our fighting fund for our Federal Court hearing in February 2026:https://t.co/jeiZzneE6z pic.twitter.com/6aBqjkiyvl
— Lesbian Action Group (@ActiveLesbians) November 13, 2025
What is the Federal Court of Australia proposing next?
In the official filing, the court ordered that the appeal be allowed and the matter be remitted to the tribunal with a differently constituted panel.
LAG celebrated the finding as a “win”, while Equality Australia said the ruling was merely technical and meant the original decision would need to be remade.
LAG spokesperson Nicole Mowbray said gender autonomy was stripping cisgender visibility. According to the Guardian, she said: “We respect their [transgender people’s] space and their right to do what they want to do; all we’re asking is for our right to our own space to be respected.”
“We are absolutely taking this as a win” – LAG spokesperson Nicole Mowbray on the Federal Court of Australia judgement
As per ABC, Mowbray added: “We are absolutely taking this as a win… we are just happy we’ve been heard.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission said in a statement, as per the Guardian, the decision still remains unresolved: “The Court ordered that those questions be reconsidered by the Administrative Review Tribunal.”
“The Commission will review the Court’s reasons for decision. The Commission remains committed to carrying out its role independently, impartially and in line with the law, including giving proper consideration to human rights issues.”