Home of South Aussie trans couple Gail and Lisette Claremont Goulet attacked three times in two weeks

A transgender couple say they are living in fear after their Adelaide Hills home was targeted three times in two weeks - and they believe what’s happening in the US is to blame.

Gail and Lisette Claremont Goulet’s home in a small Adelaide Hills town has been attacked three times in the past couple of weeks. Picture: Brett Hartwig

A transgender couple say they are living in fear after their Adelaide Hills home was attacked three times in just two weeks.

Gail and Lisette Claremont Goulet’s home in a small Adelaide Hills town has been egged twice and their flagpole, which was flying the rainbow colours of the LGBTQIA+ community at the time, was ripped from an outside wall.

Gail, 67, said she and her 61-year-old wife suspected the attacks were all waged by the same offenders and now felt nervous in their own home.

“We do feel nervous, especially at night,” said Gail, who was also harassed in a Mount Barker supermarket by a stranger.

“We think it’s probably the same people coming back to the house over and over again.”

The couple’s friends have raised $1000 to install security cameras on the property, which has provided some security.

Gail said trans people had suffered an increase in targeted aggression with the rise in power of US President Donald Trump. Picture: Jo-Anna Robinson

But Gail said trans people had suffered an increase in targeted aggression with the rise in power of US President Donald Trump, who has implemented military bans for transgender servicepeople and enforced legislation that only recognises gender at birth.

“It has gotten worse and I think it’s going to get worse and I think it’s going to get really bad,” Gail said.

“I really believe that it’s driven by the misogyny that’s so rampant on YouTube and what’s happening in the US with Trump and the law.

“Transgender people at every election, we are just footballs. As far as our livelihood goes, we’re no different from anybody else. We work, we pay tax, we’ve got kids, we’ve got grandkids. We had a mortgage, we paid it off.

“It’s just our gender identity and our sexuality that’s different from idiots that can’t take it. Most people couldn’t care less.”

Gail said she and her wife flew a range of flags on their flagpole, including Ukrainian and French.

She said the couple moved to Nairne two years ago and had been embraced by the community, apart from a minor incident at the local pub, when the owner banned a drinker for hurling transphobic abuse.

“As two women of transgender experience moving into a little country town, it was something we were aware could have been a bit different,” Gail said.

“As it turned out, we really didn’t have anything to worry about until now.”

Gail and Lisette, who both had wives and children before they came out, met in 2017 and married four years later.

Gail said her computer IT business lost all of its 1000 customers after she came out in 2015. She is now retired. Her wife still works as a health and safety manager.

The couple are the founders of advocacy organisation Transgender Lipstick Lesbian Power Couple and LGBTQIA+ community group Kindred Spirits.

An SA Police spokesperson said the incidents were being investigated.

Originally published as Home of South Aussie trans couple Gail and Lisette Claremont Goulet attacked three times in two weeks