NSW judge faces ban after scathing report criticises his handling of sexual assault trial | Law (Australia) | The Guardian

A report found that district court Judge Robert Newlinds publicly criticised the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in his judgment on a sexual assault case in 2023, suggesting the trial had been run in a way unfair to the accused.

Throughout the trial, the report stated Newlinds lambasted the crown’s case and repeatedly called it “hopeless”, while he said of the alleged sexual assault victim: “She wrongly thinks that if you have sex with someone and you can’t remember, that’s sexual assault.”

The Judicial Commission – NSW’s watchdog for judges – said Newlinds’ actions were almost worthy of being referred to parliament so it could consider removing him from his position.

But instead it referred the matter back to the chief judge of the district court, while recommending it was inappropriate for him to sit in state criminal matters for the foreseeable future.

Newlinds was appointed to the NSW district court in 2023, having predominantly served in commercial law.

The report noted at one point in the trial he said: “I don’t do criminal law, you know that, don’t you?”

Source: NSW judge faces ban after scathing report criticises his handling of sexual assault trial | Law (Australia) | The Guardian

AUS: CEO of Female-Only Social App Ordered to Pay $10k to Trans-Identified Male for ‘Indirect Gender Identity Discrimination’ | Women’s Voices

In a landmark decision, an Australian court has ruled that the CEO of a female-only networking application intended as an “online refuge” for women committed “indirect gender identity discrimination” by rejecting the membership of a male who “identifies” as a woman.

Australian Human Rights Commission barrister Zelie Heger told the court that sex was no longer defined in the Sex Discrimination Act but that “importantly the Act recognises that a person’s sex is not limited to [being a man or a woman]”.

In July of 2022, Tickle, being unable to bear the costs of pursuing the matter further, filed a Notice of Discontinuance with the court, and the complaint was dropped. But five months later, Tickle filed another complaint, having received a $50,000 grant from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, and assistance from Barry Nilsson lawyers, who run a multimillion-dollar pro bono program.

In contrast, Grover was left with no other option than to crowdfund an incredible $500,000 in order to defend herself against the discrimination claim.

The argument made by Grover’s legal team was that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of his sex, which is not prohibited, rather than on the basis of gender identity, as he claims. Justice Bromwich’s verdict stated that “these arguments failed” due to a “long history of cases decided by courts going back over thirty years” which he said established that, “in its ordinary meaning, sex is changeable.”

In addition to his attempts to access the female-only social networking app, Tickle has been playing field hockey on a women’s team. He has opposed proposed legislation which would have prohibited men from identifying into women’s sports, while boasting of using the women’s change rooms.

On his personal Instagram account, Tickle has also shared photos of his underwear, jokes about sex toys, and several cartoons drawn by Canadian transgender diaper fetishist Sophie Labelle. Recently, Tickle took to X to reveal that the youngest girl he competes with on the field hockey team is just 15 years old.

News of the decision has been met with disappointment and outrage by women’s rights campaigners and politicians both nationally and abroad.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, also weighed in on the verdict and promised to provide a more “detailed reaction” in the week to come. “Not only disappointed but also very concerned about this dystopian ruling on #TickleVGiggle , which distorts key concepts like sex and discrimination while dodging Australia’s international human rights obligations vis-à-vis women. If unchallenged, this decision would set a dangerous precedent.”

Source: AUS: CEO of Female-Only Social App Ordered to Pay $10k to Trans-Identified Male for ‘Indirect Gender Identity Discrimination’

Tickle v Giggle Judge Falsely Rules That ‘Sex Is Changeable’ | Reality’s Last Stand

Yesterday, a judge of the Federal Court of Australia delivered a judgment on Australia’s landmark case, Tickle v Giggle (TvG). Despite its lighthearted and seemingly childish name, this case is one of the most significant regarding women’s sex-based rights worldwide. At its core, TvG will determine whether a person’s subjective “gender identity”—a vague concept lacking scientific grounding—will take precedence over an individual’s objective biological sex under Australian sex discrimination law.

Source: Tickle v Giggle Judge Falsely Rules That ‘Sex Is Changeable’

Trans woman wins landmark discrimination case against female-only app |The Age

Roxanne Tickle outside court.

A transgender woman was awarded $10,000 after a judge found she had been indirectly discriminated against when she was barred from a female-only social media app in a case billed as a landmark test of trans rights law in Australia.

The Federal Court found that Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against but had been the victim of indirect discrimination and ordered the app – Giggle for Girls – to pay her $10,000 plus legal costs.

Paula Gerber, Professor of Human Rights Law at Monash University, said the finding was a huge victory for transgender women.

She said the case sent a clear message to all Australians that it is not lawful to make decisions about whether a person is a woman based on how feminine they appear.

“The judge made it very clear that it is a breach of the Sex Discrimination Act to treat transgender women differently from cisgender women. So that’s a great victory,” Gerber said.

“It has really put a spotlight on the discrimination and the exclusion that they face and has sent a message that people who do this are going to pay a price.”

Anna Kerr, principal solicitor from Feminist Legal Clinic, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling.

“Unfortunately, legislation and case law conflating gender identity with biological sex have effectively undermined the ability for women to have any spaces or services free of males,” Kerr said.

“The hard-fought rights and gains of the women’s liberation movement are being rapidly dismantled by decisions such as this, leaving women and children vulnerable in many contexts, including in services supporting victims of sexual and domestic violence, women’s prisons, public toilets and change rooms and in women’s sport.”

Trans woman wins landmark discrimination case against female-only app | SMH

Roxanne Tickle argued Giggle for Girls illegally discriminated on the grounds of gender identity after her access to the app was revoked.

Trans woman Roxanne Tickle has won her discrimination case against women-only social media app Giggle for Girls, which had barred her from the service, in a decision billed as a landmark test of trans rights law in Australia.

The Federal Court found that Tickle had not been directly discriminated against but had been the victim of indirect discrimination and ordered the app to pay her $10,000.

Justice Robert Bromwich read out a summary of his decision on Friday and noted that Giggle’s founder Sall Grover removed Tickle when she saw her photo and “considered her to be male”. Giggle had argued that the discrimination was permitted because, in its view, Tickle was of the male sex and that was unchangeable.

But, Bromwich ruled: “These arguments failed because the view propounded by the respondents conflicted with a long history of cases decided by courts over 30 years”.

He said that “on its ordinary meaning, sex is changeable”.

In a social media post after the decision, Grover said she had expected the decision but “the fight for women’s rights continues”.

Source: 12ft

LGBT Activist Facing 37 Charges of Child Sexual Abuse Worked Closely With Police, Endorsed Trans Youth Groups Promoting Puberty Blockers and Gender Identity to Children | Genevieve Gluck

The founder of an LGBT Pride organization in Surrey, UK worked with closely with local police while committing vile crimes against children. Stephen Ireland, 40, the head of Pride in Surrey, was ultimately arrested by the very officers who had been promoting his “anti-hate” efforts and campaign to teach gender ideology to local children.

On August 14, Ireland, along with one of the volunteers from his organization, were both arrested and jointly charged with 15 offenses, including conspiracy to kidnap a child and conspiracy to sexually assault a child.

Ireland was separately charged with an additional 22 offenses, including the rape of a child, the sexual assault of a child, and six counts of making indecent photographs of children. In all cases, the victim is said to be under the age of 13. His colleague, David Sutton, 26, was charged with an additional 7 similarly serious offenses.

Disturbingly, since founding Pride in Surrey, Ireland had been actively leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) seminars, and was a patron of the trans activist charity Educate and Celebrate.

Educate and Celebrate mysteriously shut down in January following years of controversy, including outrage after one of their patrons, trans-identified male comedian Jordan Gray, stripped naked on a live television program and played a keyboard with his penis.

Source: LGBT Activist Facing 37 Charges of Child Sexual Abuse Worked Closely With Police, Endorsed Trans Youth Groups Promoting Puberty Blockers and Gender Identity to Children

Tim Walz owes Democrats some answers on ‘gender identity’ and children | Kara Dansky

I have some questions for Minnesota Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz (D), and I hope journalists will start demanding answers from him.

Specifically, does he stand by his 2023 decisions turning Minnesota into a “trans refuge,” especially given the overwhelming evidence that what is euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care” harms children?

So the effect of this law is that Minnesota courts have the power to remove children from their own parents’ custody if the parents (inside or outside of Minnesota) wish to protect their children from harmful hormones or surgeries.

The phrase “gender-affirming care” sounds nice, but as investigative journalist Gerald Posner explained in the Wall Street Journal last year, such interventions are more like a human experiment that borders on child abuse.

This follows on the April 2024 publication of the Cass Report, a nearly 400-page report commissioned by the UK’s National Health Service. It found that there was only “remarkably weak evidence” to support the use of puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones for minors, concluding that such “care” is “built on shaky foundations.” In the face of the evidence, five European countries have already severely restricted the use of such interventions.

I say all this as a lifelong Democrat, feminist and leftist who is active in the group Women’s Declaration International, and who until recently served as the president of its U.S. chapter.

Rank-and-file Democrats all over this country want to vote Democrat in the November presidential election to defeat Donald Trump but feel uneasy doing so because of Democratic Party leadership’s insistence on sacrificing children on the altar of “gender identity.”

Those Democrats deserve some answers from the governor. I hope journalists will start asking the tough questions and getting us the answers we deserve.

Source: Tim Walz owes Democrats some answers on ‘gender identity’ and children

Newborn babies removed at SA maternity hospital in ‘unethical’ and ‘distressing’ breach of government policy – ABC News

Child protection workers have regularly breached government policy when removing newborns from a South Australian public hospital, prompting warnings of “unethical, distressing and uncomfortable” practices, leaked documents reveal.

While the Department for Child Protection (DCP) is legislated to remove children if it suspects their welfare is at risk, the way in which it takes newborns from mothers shortly after birth has come under increased scrutiny in recent months, following a series of ABC News reports.

The review states DCP also at times reportedly “requested” that midwives not allow mothers to breastfeed their babies before Section 41 was invoked.

“Staff described a lack of transparency as a moral dilemma for those involved in the medical and emotional care of women, with staff often knowing information about what will be happening when the parents don’t,” the review states.

“Staff felt that this was contradictory with their role in caring for both the baby and the mother.

“They would be encouraging women to prepare for the arrival of their infant, including setting up a nursery, while the mother did not know that there was (sic) plans for a potential removal at birth.”

[Ed: This is simply inhumane and should be prohibited. There must be facilities provided to support expectant and new mothers with babies to detox with supervision if needed and to be safe from violent fathers. Until humane alternatives are provided, Australia cannot be said to be acting in the best interests of children since the rates of abuse in out of home care are extremely high. ]

Source: Newborn babies removed at SA maternity hospital in ‘unethical’ and ‘distressing’ breach of government policy – ABC News

Lesbian: Politics, Culture, Existence | Online Book Launch Tickets | TryBooking Australia

Across almost 50 years of writing, Susan Hawthorne’s essays on lesbian culture and politics take the reader on a journey through the concerns of radical feminists engaged in the Women’s Liberation Movement. Not only does she trace the experiments of lesbians creating a vibrant woman-loving culture, but she also traces the backlash against lesbians and a history of violence perpetrated by the state, corporations and individual men.

Read more about the book: https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781925950984

Kaye Moseley is an artist and has been active in lesbian communities in Melbourne since 1973 when she attended the first National Lesbian Conference in Australia. She designed the Spinifex logo and inaugurated the annual Satin and Silk Ball for Lesbians which ran for over one and a half decades in Melbourne.

Date

Wednesday 4 September 2024 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (UTC+10)

Location

Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser

Source: Lesbian: Politics, Culture, Existence | Online Book Launch Tickets | TryBooking Australia

Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government | BBC

Extreme misogyny will be treated as a form of extremism under new government plans, the Home Office has said.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has ordered a review of the UK’s counter-extremism strategy to determine how best to tackle threats posed by harmful ideologies.

The analysis will look at hatred of women as one of the ideological trends that the government says is gaining traction.

For some years there has been concern around “Incel culture”, an online movement of mainly young men who describe themselves as “involuntarily celibate” and blame women and “alpha males” for their problems.

A mass shooting in Plymouth in 2021 by 22-year-old Jake Davison, who killed five people before fatally shooting himself, was linked to Incel ideology.

At the time no further policy action was taken, but incidents like that one, and also the rise of social media influencers such as Andrew Tate – a self-proclaimed misogynist – may have pushed the new government to think again.

Source: Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government