Lesbian Action Group wins Federal Court appeal in bid to exclude transgender women

The Federal Court has allowed an appeal by a lesbian rights group that wants to legally exclude transgender women from its public events for five years.

The closely watched case will have broad implications for transgender women and raise questions about sex-based rights and the freedom to associate.

The Lesbian Action Group (LAG) sought an exemption to the Sex Discrimination Act so it could hold public events exclusively for lesbians who were assigned female at birth.

This was the group's third attempt at securing the exemption, after its initial application to the Human Rights Commission in 2023 was rejected and a later appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal was also dismissed.

LAG celebrated the finding as a "win", while Equality Australia said the ruling was merely technical, and meant the original ruling needed to be remade.

Read more on the original article : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-15/lesbian-action-group-court-judgment/106561902