The woman at the centre of a row within the Greens over transgender rights is likely to defy her party’s leadership and recontest for the role she was removed from last week.
Long-time party activist Linda Gale told The Age she was looking to stand again for the position as the Greens’ Victorian convenor after the party overturned her election amid an internal dispute over transgender issues fought through social media.
It is the latest flashpoint in an emotional and divisive debate within the Greens over whether party members are allowed to raise concerns about whether trans rights can conflict with the rights of biological women in some circumstances.
“The crisis of democracy in the Greens will continue for as long as the ‘no debate’ edict stands around issues of sex and gender, which affect us all,” said Leppert, who in 2010 managed Adam Bandt’s successful campaign for the federal seat of Melbourne.
“I am optimistic that we [the Greens] will rise above this,” said Leppert, “but to do that we will need to recommit to collectivism and rediscover the importance of debate.”
Divisions within the Greens have been reflected across the country, with the expulsion of feminist lawyer Anna Kerr from the NSW Greens.
Source: Ousted Greens convenor defiant amid party’s trans row