A trans-identified male soccer player in Australia has successfully petitioned a New South Wales court to obtain an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) against a women’s rights campaigner he had never met. Stephanie Blanch, a male who plays on a women’s soccer team, told the court he felt “threatened” by the knowledge of women’s rights campaigner Kirralie Smith’s views about men who participate in women’s sports.
In a December 2024 ruling on the AVO, the District Court emphasized the fact that Smith had declined to refer to Blanch by his chosen pronouns, writing that she “repeatedly referred to the Appellant as a male, a man, a bloke and ‘he,’ where the Appellant does not refer to herself that way.”
The judge continued by acknowledging that while the relevant laws do not mention “misgendering” as a violation, it could be considered “sufficiently harassing.”