ABOVE: Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Photo by shganti777 via Bigstockphoto)
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reiterated his opposition to transgender women on female sports teams.
Senator Claire Chandler, who represents Tasmania, in February introduced a bill in the Australian Parliament that would amend the country’s Sex Discrimination Act to allow sports and clubs to ban trans women from “single-sex sport” teams.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, references to ‘sex’ refer to biological sex and the intention of this clause is to provide certainty that operating single-sex sport — sporting activity exclusively for either females or males — is not a breach of the act,” reads the bill. “A person’s gender/gender identity/gender expression has no bearing on their sex.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation on April 11 noted Morrison has described Chandler’s bill as “terrific.” The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the prime minister has also endorsed Katherine Deves, the co-founder of Save Women’s Sport, a group that backs efforts to ban trans women from competing on female sports teams, who is running against incumbent MP Zali Steggal.
“I share their views,” said Morrison on Monday.
Australia’s general election will take place on May 21.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation noted Morrison declined to say whether his government would seek to ban trans women from female sports teams if it were to win re-election.
“It’s time to recognize that there’s nothing brave about attacking trans people, but that courage instead lies in addressing the real problems we face,” said Sally Goldner, a spokesperson for Just Equal Australia, a national LGBTQ rights group, on Monday in a press release.
