“TERFs Off Our Turf!” Counter-Protest To Clash With Sydney Anti-Trans Rally

A “TERFs Off Our Turf!” counter-protest is slated for Sydney’s Town Hall this weekend. Commencing at 11am on Sunday 23 August, it aims to oppose an increasing number of calls from gender-critical protestors in Australia to legislate sex-based discrimination.

In fact, the counter-protest, organised by Pride In Protest, is being held in direct response to another rally, “Restore Women’s Rights – Fix the SDA” (RWR). The RWR rally, to be held at Martin Place Amphitheatre (Pitt Street) on the same day, is calling for amendments to the Sexual Discrimination Act.

While the RWR rally purports its mission is to “protect women”, the current act already prohibits all discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status. In plain terms, the rally is instead calling for the removal of key gender identity protections introduced under Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 

This change would enable single-sex spaces to overlook gender (and the broad scientific consensus foregrounding its importance and distinction from biological sex) to legally discriminate against individuals based on their genitalia alone. 

“Muddled” & “Broken”: RWR Rally Speaker Sall Grover On Gender Identity Protections

Sall Grover, a promoted speaker for the RWR rally, spoke on her dislike for Gillard’s reforms.

“While she was in parliament giving speeches about misogyny,” Grover said, “behind the scenes she was ushering in amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act that took out the definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ and put in ‘gender identity’, with a very circular definition.

“What it did was create kind of a muddled piece of legislation because you suddenly had activists who were able to use it as a way to get what they want. So that is men who claim to be women into women’s spaces, services, sports. So we’re in this sort of broken time at the moment.”

Grover herself was previously found by the federal court to have discriminated against a transgender woman after removing her from Giggle for Girls, Grover’s now defunct social media app.