Thread by @KirstiMiller30

An Australian senator claims trans women are destroying womens sports in Australia yet the senator had to use a college swimmer in America to validate her claim. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

@DailyMailAU claim an unidentified female swimmer claimed Ms Thomas is breaking records that aren't achievable for female counterparts, after spending three years competing as a man. In reality Thomas does not hold a single NCAA national record.

Chandler claims there are no laws to protect ”biological” women athletes. Our federal guidelines & sex discrimination act in Australia are world leading in this.

They both lay out how sports can legally discriminate against a trans women in female sports in 🇦🇺 if a disparity in size, strength, speed, endurance or physique exists.

medium.com/@kirstiphillip…

A example of the Federal Guidelines ”protecting” the women’s category can be seen when Rugby Australia recently sought and was granted a temporary exemption to legally discriminate against a trans woman rugby player in Grafton Nsw

sportaus.gov.au/__data/assets/…

dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lismo…

Under both state & federal laws including the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Bill 2013

aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_…

a trans athlete ’CAN’ be legally discriminated against in sport in Australia if a disparity in strength, speed, endurance or physique is present.

The sex discrimination Act contains a permanent exemption in relation to ‘competitive sporting activity’. This is commonly referred to as the ‘single-sex competition’ exemption, although it does not operate to make all single-sex or single-gender sporting competitions lawful.

The exemption allows for discrimination on the grounds of sex or gender identity only in ‘any competitive sporting activity in which the strength, stamina or physique of competitors is relevant’.

The federal guidelines provides factors to consider for sports who are. seeking to rely on the ‘competitive sporting activity’ exemption.

Given the diversity of sports and the role of different skills and physical characteristics (strength, stamina,physique) in each sport, the assessment should be specific to the sport in question.

Senator Chandler is being irrational spreading her transphobic fears in her Push for transgender girls and women to be BANNED from competing at ALL levels of sport in Australia. The IOC global leaders in sport have made abundantly clear Chandler is wrong.

The senator is calling for transgender women to be blanket banned from competing in women’s sport at all levels.

This call for a blanket ban from Chandler is in stark contrast to the recently released International Olympic Committee (IOC) new framework on fairness, inclusion, & non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity & sex variations.

The IOC has made a firm statement within it’s policy a polar opposite to Chandler. The IOC clearly state that no athlete should be excluded from competition on the grounds of a perceived unfair advantage due to their gender.

Such decisions, the IOC adds, should be based on “robust and peer-reviewed science … which demonstrates a consistent, unfair and disproportionate competitive advantage and/or an unpreventable risk to the safety of the athletes.

Senator Claire Chandler claimed sex discrimination laws were being ‘weaponised’ to harass community sport organisations with absolutely no examples of this ever happening in Australia. Australia has a long documented history of transgender women being included in sports.

. A recent research project undertaken by Professor Noah Riseman clearly shows the irrational fears of trans athletes that Senator Hanson advocates has never played out on the sports fields.

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

Where Senator Chandler is most confused is the Federal Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport guidelines are not a participation policy for any sport.

Trans athletes in 🇦🇺 have been eligible to compete in womens sports including international womens sports since 1976 & the last 9 Olympic Games. Australia has never had a single trans athlete even qualify to compete at a single Commonwealth let alone an Olympic Games.