Today at the Paralympics in Paris 50 year old Valentina Petrillo, who has fathered two children, will be competing in heats for the women’s 400 metres.
Our 2000 Equal Status Act provides exemptions from describing some differences in treatment as discrimination e.g. where privacy is an issue but also in other areas such as sport. The Act clearly shows that the intent and meaning of the legislation in this section is based on one's sex, or one's biology, as defined in Section 3:
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys when asked if the 2015 Gender Recognition Act means that a man who self-identifies as a woman is entitled to access any and all female-only spaces said three years ago that questions such as this sought an interpretation of the law and such matters are reserved for the courts.
Under the 2020 Programme for Government an undertaking was given to protect "gender identity" from discrimination with a commitment to
Despite the fact that 84% of submissions to the public consultation in 2021 on our equality legislation related to gender and that “Throughout the submissions, the proposal to specifically include gender identity within the Equality Acts was contentious,” the Department appears set to proceed with amending the “gender ground”. In March it said:
"It is planned that legislative proposals arising from the Review of the Equality Acts will be brought forward shortly. Policy officials are seeking legal advice on a number of matters before proposals can be finalised.
The review has examined the functioning of the Acts (Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015) and their effectiveness in combatting discrimination and promoting equality."
Dr Michael Foran in his Substack "No Laughing Matter" last week says of the recent Tickle v Giggle case that despite the fact that Tickle was born male and now "identifies" as a woman:
"As a matter of Australian law, that identity is legally recognised; Tickle is deemed by the Queensland Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to be both female and a woman."
Dr Foran points out that Australian law doesn't base the categories of man and woman on biology and says that "gender identity is the equivalent of a protected characteristic under Australian law". Under the Australian Sex Discrimination Act 1984 it says
He adds:
"It is one thing to say that the words man and woman should only refer to biological reality, but it is another thing entirely to base a legal argument on those meanings when the law does not."
Our 2015 Gender Recognition Act allows an individual to "change sex" even if only legally, since it's impossible to do this in reality (even with hormones and/or surgery):
But it's also clear that if the Government succeeds in protecting the concept of “gender identity” in our anti-discrimination equality legislation women face the risk of similar cases as these. It may well mean that women and girls will not be able to object to men or boys in our sports, schools, changing rooms etc as the law may at that stage protect men and boys who claim to have a female “gender identity”.
At the very least the exemptions currently provided to protect single-sex provision in our 2000 Equal Status Act need to be maintained.
