Hanover transphobia

“It is certainly discrimination, similar to the discrimination instigated by St Vincent de Paul (from memory) in Sydney. I’m also reminded of the owners of stores selling female clothing who ban anyone differing from gender expectations because one person masturbates while trying on clothing.

Hanover’s action has the potential to render much of the gender identity attribute of the EO Act useless for anyone other than post-surgery transsexuals and set back the lives of pre and non-operative trans people by years. We condemn the thoughtless action of the individual mentioned and acknowledge there are ‘women who have suffered violently at the hands of men.’ However, where is the service to those trans women who have equally suffered similar abuse at the hands of the men and behave appropriately?”

Further, the Hanover situation demonstrates the need for a Victorian-government funded gender centre along the lines of that in Sydney to provide accommodation for gender-diverse people over 25 (youth being covered by the ALSORTS project). A gender centre could also cover advocacy, education and other services that prevent these sort of discriminatory attitudes arising in the first place. I add that only yesterday I took a call on the TransGender Victoria line from an advocate of a 57 year old trans woman having general accommodation difficulties. I had no referral options available.”