Katherine Deves in feminist fightback against Queensland name-your-gender laws

A radical feminist group is hosting a conference and rally on Saturday against Queensland’s moves to allow gender self-identification on birth certificates.

Former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves.

A radical feminist group operating under the banner of International Women’s Day will host a conference and rally on Saturday in protest against Queensland’s moves to allow gender self-identification on birth certificates.

Former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, who campaigned against transgender athletes in last year’s federal election, is among speakers at the conference organised by IWD Brisbane Meanjin, a self-described “left-wing women’s liberation organisation”.

The Palaszczuk government’s bill, which the legal affairs and safety committee last week recommended be passed, will allow trans and gender-diverse people to change the sex on their birth certificate without undergoing sexual reassignment surgery.

The committee referred to submissions from groups including the Queensland Human Rights Commission, Just. Equal and Amnesty International, which argued the move would uphold human rights, reduce discrimination and improve the wellbeing of gender-diverse communities.

But IWD Brisbane Meanjin has accused the government of ­ignoring calls from feminists ­opposed to “gender ideology”.

Sall Grover, founder of Giggle, a social networking app for women, is chairing Saturday’s rally against Queensland’s gender self-identification Bill. Picture: Supplied.

Sall Grover, head of women’s-only app Giggle and chair of Saturday’s rally, described the bill as “a predator’s dream”.

“Men saying they’re women does take away rights that are specifically put aside for women for really, really valid reasons – whether it’s for safety, privacy or dignity, women need to have our own spaces,” Ms Grover said.

IWD Brisbane Meanjin’s conference, running over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, features 20 speakers including Ms Deves, whose talk is titled Feminism, the media and hands across the aisle.

Also on the docket is feminist academic Sheila Jeffreys, University of Melbourne associate professor of political philosophy Holly Lawford-Smith and women’s rights campaigner Anna McCormack.

Ms McCormack began IWD Brisbane Meanjin in 2017 after being asked to talk at another International Women’s Day rally and seeing trans-women had also been given a platform to speak.

“I realised feminists need to take this back,” she said.

Her group represents the position of TERFs – trans-exclusion­ary radical feminists – a generally derogative label most notably thrown at author J.K Rowling.

Ms McCormack expected up to 40 people to attend Saturday’s protest in Brisbane’s city.

Sally Goldner slammed arguments rejecting trans women as ‘predators’ as ‘baseless fearmongering’. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Just. Equal spokeswoman Sally Goldner rejected concerns about women’s safety as a case of “crying wolf once too often”. “Years of laws protecting trans and gender-diverse people, both in Australia and beyond, have shown no evidence of cisgender men fraudulently attempting to gain access to specific areas,” she said.

“Predator and paedophile ­arguments come from the same fearmongering that was levelled against gay men years ago and such ideas are overwhelmingly baseless.”

The same argument was taken by the parliamentary committee, which accepted there was “nothing to suggest a systemic risk to girls and women” from men identifying as women.