Tasmania's Illogical, illiberal, Anti Discrimination Laws

Surely offence and insult are in the eye of the beholder!

Gender identity is a protected trait in Tasmania.

This means it is illegal to discriminate against someone because they identify differently from their biological sex.

And incredibly, it is illegal to offend or insult someone in relation to their gender identity.

Now please understand that I am most certainly not advocating that we go around trying to offend or insult people.

But I am astonished that subjectivity is written into law. Surely offence and insult are in the eye of the beholder!

The Tasmanian laws meant that if I say something and you complain that I have insulted you, a non-elected, non-representative public bureaucrat will be appointed to adjudicate not only whether what I said was legal, but whether the intent of my heart when I said it was malicious. 

How can a government stooge possibly claim to know the intent of my heart?

Moreover, the public servant will need to investigate the emotions my words aroused in you when you heard them. And it doesn’t matter whether I was actually speaking to you, or even about you.

The Tasmanian government’s own website, Equal Opportunity Tasmania, gives the following example of discrimination that would be considered illegal.

“Francis identifies as non-binary and likes to be called ‘they’. Their work colleagues continually refer to them as ‘her’ and ‘she’ despite Francis asking their colleagues to stop.

The use of inappropriate pronouns is discriminatory and can cause humiliation and offence.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that Francis is a bit weird. Me too.

Francis is also a biological woman! She’s not a they. She’s a she. 

And besides, “they” is a plural pronoun and Francis is not a group, she’s an individual.

To call Francis a “they” is not only biologically incorrect, it is grammatically incorrect.

To which the Tasmanian Anti Discrimination Commissioner would reply …

“A person’s designated sex at birth is irrelevant.”

Yep. That’s literally what the commissioner would say. The commissioner actually says it on the government website.

Again, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that not only is Francis weird, so too is the commissioner. And the commissioner has power over you!

“But Francis is a woman. She has a vagina and breasts and uses around 20,000 words every day!”

“Irrelevant,” the Tasmanian government says. 

By that same logic, if you insisted that a trans woman cannot have babies you would be in danger of breaching the law.

“But he can’t get pregnant,” I hear you say. “He doesn’t have a womb, or ovaries, or eggs. And even if he had all of those things, where would the baby come out? 

Irrelevant, the Tasmanian government says. 

He identifies as a “she” so you must call him “she/her”. 

Moreover, he feels all insulted and offended that you have denied he can give birth just because he is anatomically unequipped for the task. It makes him feel like he’s not a real woman. So, you’ve committed an offence.

Here’s how the discrimination law is written …

“It is also against the law to offend, humiliate, intimidate, insult or ridicule a person because of their gender identity, or to publicly incite hatred, serious contempt or severe ridicule on the basis of gender identity.”

The good news is that if you believe there is a reason you should be exempt from this, you can apply to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for an exemption.

Dear Commissioner, 

I would like an exemption from being compelled to say things I do not believe in order to appease other people’s feelings.

Sincerely,

James (He/Him)

How do you think I would go? 

You can say something in Tasmania, the legality of which depends entirely on the feelings of the person hearing it.

One day your words are fine. The next day, someone just isn’t vibing with your words, so they constitute an offence.

No decent person wants to hurt other people’s feelings, but it is wrong to make hurting other people’s feelings an offence.

Laws that criminalise your words based on how someone else feels about them are wrong.

Laws that compel you to say things you do not believe are wrong.

Laws that give the government permission to judge your thoughts are wrong.

That is why I believe the anti-discrimination laws are illogical, illiberal, and just plain wrong.