AUS: Women’s Rights Activist Guilty of ‘Vilification’ for Calling Trans-Identified Males ‘Men,’ Facing Possible $200k Penalty

An Australian woman who has vocally opposed the participation of trans-identified male players in women’s football leagues has been deemed guilty of “vilification” after two of the men filed Apprehended Violence Orders (AVO) against her for referring to them as “men.”

Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman with Binary Australia, a campaign group dedicated to advocating for single-sex sports in Australia, has been told by the local court of New South Wales that she “unlawfully vilified” the two men – Justin “Riley” Dennis and Nicholas “Stephanie” Blanch – by raising public awareness of their inclusion in women’s sports after learning of injuries sustained by female players.

Demands made by Dennis and Blanch that may be imposed upon Smith and Binary Australia include: two payouts to the trans-identified men, at a maximum of $100,000 each, for “damages” to their reputation; a further financial penalty requiring Smith and Binary to cover the men’s court costs; a requirement that Smith and Binary issue a public apology; and the expectation that they “develop a policy aimed at eliminating unlawful discrimination and transgender vilification in relation to any future public acts.”

The court’s final decision, which will outline the extent of the punitive measures, is expected to be handed down in November.

Reduxx has reviewed both of the judgements, which were decided by Magistrate Sharon Freund on August 26. The AVO judgements center around comments that Smith made on social media which highlighted the fact that Dennis and Blanch, by playing on women’s football teams, jeopardized the safety of female athletes.

The AVO lodged by Dennis was filed in March 2023. Police visited Smith at her home on March 30 and Smith was given the AVO requiring that she refrain from discussing or approaching Dennis – despite the fact that Smith lives over 200 miles from him.

Last week’s court decision laid out specific comments made by Smith between March 29 and March 31, 2023 that Dennis alleged were discriminatory against him. In particular, Smith discussed alleged injuries sustained by two female players which were said to have occurred during a match involving Dennis.

“I have cried a lot today,” Smith wrote on Facebook on March 27, 2023. “Last night I was contacted by people in Sydney. It is alleged that two female soccer players were hospitalised over the weekend after being forced to play against a male appropriating womanhood. Trying to get hold of the video. Football Australia have received more than 2000 complaints about the men in teams such as Wingham FC and some Sydney first grade teams,” she said, referencing both Blanch and Dennis.

“No one is excluding trans,” Smith continued. “We simply want female sex-based services and spaces. The trans can play according to biology or on a mixed or trans team.”

Smith also noted that “the top goal scorer in the NSW Women’s League One First Grade soccer is male,” referring again to Dennis. “Football NSW fail to safeguard women and girls for the sake of men’s feelings!”

In 2023, Football New South Wales (NSW) introduced a Gender Diversity Policy. The guidance states, “FNSW remains committed to supporting the inclusion of Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender Diverse people in Football. FNSW intends that Gender Diverse Players who are registered to play Football in the gender competition which best suits the Player’s Gender Identity shall be supported to play in a safe
and inclusive environment.”

Additionally, Football Australia’s Anti-Discrimination Policy defines “excluding people on the basis of their sex and / or gender identity status from participation in a competitive sporting activity” as a prohibited form of discrimination.

A letter-writing campaign was launched by Smith, out of concern for the safety of the female players, encouraging concerned individuals to contact Football New South Wales — which reportedly then received over 12,000 submissions. Yet after Smith had publicly identified Dennis as the top goal scorer in the women’s league, Football NSW scrubbed Dennis’ name from their website, replacing his name with “Inter Player” on their roster.

After being afforded protection by Football New South Wales, Dennis continued to play on women’s football teams. On May 21 of that year, Dennis was filmed injuring a young female athlete during a game between the Inter Lions and the St. George football clubs at the Majors Bay Reserve.

Reduxx published footage of the match, showing Dennis launch his smaller female opponent towards a metal fence using an aggressive tackle as the two chased down the ball.

Reduxx was told that the female St. George player was provided treatment from the club’s physiotherapist during the game’s half-time break, hoping to be able to return to the field. But, during the second half of the game, the woman was only able to play for “approximately 8 minutes” before she succumbed to the injuries she sustained and had to be replaced.

An anonymous source close to the situation explained to Reduxx that Dennis left the Inter Lions team following the controversy over the injured female players. The source stated that Dennis then submitted at least three applications of interest for other teams, which were not accepted. The Flying Bats, however, approved his application to join the team. The football club’s official website states it is “the biggest LGBTQIA+ women’s and non-binary football club in the world,” having been founded in 1985.

The Flying Bats, a football club for “self-identified women and non-binary people,” has drawn significant criticism due to its policies, and because there are at least five male players known to be playing on their Premier League women’s football team. The heightened scrutiny has led officials to increase security and implement prohibitions against filming at matches.

As critics such as Smith have attempted to sound the alarm regarding the risks posed to female players, as well as emphasizing the physical advantages that male athletes have over other women’s teams, The Flying Bats have dominated their competitors. During the 2024 season of the North West Sydney Football Women’s Premier Competition, The Flying Bats won all 17 games and scored 76 goals while only a total of 8 points were scored against them.

In 2022, the Flying Bats FC was presented with a Fair Play award, the same year that a female player had her leg broken in two places by an unidentified male player for their team. The female player was said to be “screaming in pain” due to the injury, and is now no longer playing football. At the time, her teammate was penalized for “transphobia” after she made a remark referring to the trans-identified player as a male.

The second AVO lodged against Smith was filed by Nicholas “Stephanie” Blanch, who plays against female athletes in the Wingham Football Club.

Blanch first applied for his AVO against Smith on March 22, 2023, but his complaint was rejected in January of 2024 after the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales found that the scope of the request was out of their jurisdiction. But Blanch appealed the following month, arguing that Smith’s “conduct” had caused him to fear for his safety, and on March 21 of last year, Magistrate Greenwood granted him permission to pursue the matter in court.

In January 2023, Smith wrote an article for Binary which explained that Blanch was male and that he had been given a participation award for playing against women.

“Men of mid coast NSW [New South Wales], can you get in touch with me please? I need your help. There is a bloke playing on the women’s team in Wingham and many are upset about it. The federation is refusing to listen,” Smith posted to X on January 19, 2023.

The following day, Smith posted the article she had written alongside a photo of Blanch. Examples of statements highlighted as harassment in Blanch’s AVO include quotes from the article Smith authored.

“Wingham Football Club on the Mid North Coast of NSW published these photos on their Facebook page in December 2022. The bloke in a frock was receiving an award for playing in the women’s division.”

“The bloke in a frock can play either in the men’s competition or a mixed competition, there is absolutely no need for him to play in a women’s division,” Smith added. “No one is saying he can’t play. It is simply a matter of fairness, safety, and dignity. He is male and does not belong in a female division. Women and girls deserve to have the option of a female-only competition.”

The AVO further cites several instances wherein Smith referred to Blanch simply as a “bloke in a frock,” and a “man,” between January and February 2023. The court, in its judgement, stated that Smith – and by extension Binary Australia – “sought to evoke fear in the reader regarding the fact that [Blanch], who is described as a man / male / bloke is playing in a women’s team (and transgender women playing in women’s sport generally).”

Evidence provided in the judgement to support this statement included Smith’s comments: “How can girls, women, and families feel safe when they are not even permitted to question the presence of a man in their space or on the field?” and “Why should parents be put in the terrible situation of having to deal with an adult man in their daughter’s bathroom?”

In 2013, the Gillard government introduced legislation which amended Australia’s Anti-Discrimination Act to include provisions regarding “gender identity.”

Section 38S of the ADA states: “It is unlawful for a person, by a public act, to incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of a person [or persons] on the ground that the person is a transgender person.”

As a result of Australia’s national policies prohibiting public statements of “discrimination” on the basis of gender identity, Smith has been repeatedly censored online over the past two years.

On February 20, 2023, Smith’s public Facebook page was removed at the request of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. Smith had set up the page in 2016 and used the platform to advocate for the rights of women and girls being harmed by gender identity policies. At the time of its deletion, Smith’s page had over 47,000 followers.

Other instances of censorship have seen her posts made to social media taken down. In total, Smith has been required to appear in court ten times to defend herself for referring to trans-identified males as men.

On August 20, having just lost her appeal to have the AVOs against her dismissed, prominent news outlet The Sydney Morning Herald portrayed Blanch as a “vulnerable person” who had been the victim of “escalating abuse online.” Solicitor Karen Beashel, who represented Blanch, told the newspaper, “The decision confirms online harassment, even if dressed as ‘political commentary’, can and will justify the making of an APVO.”

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Originally written for and published by Reduxx, your source for pro-woman and pro-child safeguarding news.