Grovers team seemed confused, not really challenging the previous judgements on a legal basis, but still attempting to argue they weren't fair, so it was bound to fail. Grover has attacked Australia and the Government, and has said she will leave the country, reportedly bound for the UK. Her costs ar reportedly being paid for by the US christian conservative group, Alliance Defending Freedom, though this may not include penalties or Ms Tickles costs.
The Australian conservative groups, backed by the right wing parties, have started petitions and vowed to pressure the government to make changes to the Australian Sex Discrimination Act to define sex as sex assigned at birth, which effectively removes protection for trans people. Bills have already been tabled and defeated, but the pressure still there, so we cannot lose our vigilance at defending this Act. I have a meeting with our state Labor Equality Advisor on Monday to try to ensure our state politicians are educated as to how to respond to 'gotcha' questions which have been used in parliament and the press.
I strongly suspect the conservatives / right wingers have not actually read the Act as it already contains exemptions for situations of significant disadvantage or safety. This allows bodies to make a case to discriminate against trans people in certain circumstances, which mostly invalidates many of the anti trans groups arguments. So the contentious issue they have is that trans rights may diminish cis women's rights to single sex spaces. This is the argument we need to win to put this to bed.
Hugs,
Allie
