Court Finds Anti-Trans Activist Kirralie Smith & Binary Australia Vilified Trans Women
Image: Image: Binary Australia
A court has found Binary Australia and its spokesperson, anti-trans campaigner Kirralie Smith, to have unlawfully vilified two trans women in a series of social media posts.
It marks the first time someone has been found to have unlawfully vilified a person for being trans under NSW law.
In the NSW Local Court on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund found that Smith and Binary Australia- formerly anti-marriage equality group Marriage Alliance- incited hatred and serious contempt for the women, who were targeted after playing football with their local clubs.
“These women were subjected to horrendous harassment online, including being publicly identified, outed and misgendered,” said Equality Australia Legal Director Heather Corkhill.
“People who target vulnerable minorities to incite hatred and fear need to be called out and stopped. Smith and her supporters are out of step with the law, out of step with community values, and out of step with modern Australia.”
Smith published a series of posts on X over several months in 2024 and early 2025 specifically targeting trans individuals, broadcasting their faces, names, and the dates and locations where their teams would be playing to more than 30,000 followers.
It comes as Binary Australia, which was listed as an “far-right hate and extremist group” by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism in 2022, continues their campaign exclude trans women from women’s sports.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Freund also found that the vilification provisions under NSW law are valid and do not infringe the implied freedom of political communication under the Commonwealth Constitution.
“The court has made it clear: online posts made in bad faith that incite hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule regardless of the harm it causes cannot be disguised as ‘political communication’. Not only is that argument baseless — it’s against the law,” Corkhill said.
“Trans Australians continue to face relentless attacks that push them out of public life and contribute to some of the most severe mental health outcomes in the country.
“Today’s judgement proves beyond doubt that those who engage in doxxing and targeted attacks on vulnerable minorities are not simply expressing ‘free speech’, they are abusing individuals in clear violation of the law.”
Smith and Binary may have to issue public apologies
The two trans women have applied for court orders requiring both Smith and Binary Australia to undergo anti-discrimination training, take down the posts that publicly identified them, and issue public apologies for misgendering them.
Smith and Binary could be made to pay up to $100,000 in damages for vilifying one woman, with Smith facing a further $100,000 for vilifying another.
A decision on the amount in damages and other orders will be handed down in November following submissions.
Binary director, Family First Upper House candidate in NSW, and longtime anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigner Lyle Shelton said on Wednesday the decisions were based on “unjust laws”.
“Australians should be free to engage in debate, even robustly,” he said. “The limits to free speech should be at incitement to violence, not to protect the political positions of those engaged in identity politics by shutting down discussion.
“Sadly, Liberal and Labor politicians allow the law to be used vexatiously by anti-free speech activists.
“While these laws are often referred to as ‘hate speech laws’ they are in effect used to silence speech activists hate.”
The decision comes less than a fortnight after Smith lost her appeal against a decision to put in place an apprehended personal violence order (APVO) to protect one of the players from further harassment and intimidation.
Leave a Reply