“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 theexpulsion of feminist lawyer Anna Kerr from the NSW Greens.
Transgender Victoria is the leading body for trans and gender diverse advocacy. The group said in a statement that its “position is that,in politics and in journalism,there must be less dehumanisation and demonisation of trans and gender diverse people,and more respect for our dignity,equality and humanity. Recent events show this needs to change across all sides of the political spectrum.”
Trans groups argue trans woman are women and that the attempts to make a distinction with biological women are discriminatory and harmful.
The Victorian flare-up threatens to distract the party after an impressive federal election result and ahead of the November state election in which the Greens hope to expand their influence in the Victorian parliament.
It comes in the week that swimming’s world governing body FINA controversially voted to restrict transgender women from elite female competition.
News of Gale’s election last week was met with aFacebook post by Green member and Port Phillip deputy mayor Tim Baxter,who accused her of transphobia and posted that her “(narrow) victory sends a clear message to all members of the Victorian Greens:Trans people are not safe in this party”.
Baxter criticised “hostile TERFs[trans-exclusionary radical feminists)] and transphobes who “continue to push for their right to ‘question’ the humanity and rights of trans people”.
He said the transphobe problem continued in the “shadows” of internal party processes. “So I’m calling it out publicly.”
In response,Gale issued a statement,drafted in consultation with Bandt’s office,in which she said the position of the Greens was clear:“trans rights are non-negotiable” and that “all trans and gender diverse people are valid and deserve to live their lives free from harassment and discrimination”.
But Greens senator Janet Rice took toTwitter to say Gale’s election was “untenable” unless she explicitly rejected her 2019 paper,titledTrans Exclusionary Rhetoric,Contending Views,and apologised for the harm it had caused. Gale declined to do so.
Rice’s comments were shared or retweeted by a string of federal and state MPs and parliamentary hopefuls,including Gabrielle de Vietri,the party’s candidate for the once-safe Labor seat of Richmond at the November election.
Ratnam then announced via Twitter that she had instigated action and that Gale’s election had been set aside. She said election rules hadn’t been followed and candidates hadn’t been given the opportunity to communicate with members about their candidacy.
While some senior Greens insiders say the Gale election controversy reflects a grassroots-based party at the frontier of social policy thrashing out difficult issues,others say it highlights real problems with Green decision-making and the quashing of civil debate by aggressive young activists through social media,Twitter in particular.
The Age sought to speak to senior Greens figures including Ratnam,Bandt,Baxter and state MP Tim Read and senator Lidia Thorpe. None were prepared to comment.
Senator Rice is in the US and did not respond to requests for comment.
Ratnam has tweeted:“There are limits to all debates. We don’t allow a debate on whether people of colour should have access to the same spaces as white people – because it’s racist. In the same way,the rights of trans people should not be debated – because it is transphobic.”
Both sides in the conflict are expecting formal complaints and perhaps expulsion moves to be made against them.
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