Women's Forum Australia's Stephanie Bastiaan calls for more to speak up against involvement of transgender players in women's sport
Members of a Victorian women's netball club have been praised after their advocacy against facing transgender players on another team sparked an investigation by the state's peak netball body.
Netball Victoria is currently investigating whether transgender players pose a safety risk to women players.
An independent expert is reviewing possible on-court safety risks after a club in Melbourne's outer north said it was worried about the size and strength of the two transgender players who represent Melton Central.
The decision to launch the review came after Melton South players threatened to boycott matches against Melton Central due to concerns over the safety of the team against transgender players.
Women's Forum Australia head of advocacy Stephanie Bastiaan said she was "very pleased" about the boycott as it meant teams were "biting back".
"Parents are speaking out. Players are threatening to boycott. Teams are threatening to withdraw. But it's disappointing that it has to come to this in order to get action," Ms Bastiaan told Sky News' Danica De Giorgio on Monday.
"We've had big changes overseas with protecting women's sport in the US. The whole gender issue in the UK has come to a head. And yet here we are still in Australia, where men are identifying into women's sports spaces, so on, so forth.
"So well done to these players for speaking up and for pushing back. And I hope we see more of it so that we can get further action to protect women's sport. Absolutely."
Ms Bastiaan said it shouldn't be up to sporting clubs to get into trouble for fielding transgender players, but argued the Sex Discrimination Act needed to be amended in order to protect women's sport.
"I think there are some sporting clubs that are ideologically captured, and they're prioritising diversity and inclusion over fairness and safety for women and girls. But I think, there is also an undercurrent of fear of litigation," she said.
"It shouldn't be up to sporting clubs to have to face litigation in order to work out whether they can legally discriminate against males to protect female sport. We need clarity in the law.
"We need to reinstate biological definitions into the Sex Discrimination Act and we need to scrap these so-called protected provisions altogether and have a blanket support for women's sport as its own category. And if other clubs want to be more open, they can have these open categories or mixed sporting teams."
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