A court has approved an apprehended violence order against Kirralie Smith, the leader of anti-trans organisation Binary Australia.
The order was granted after Smith focused her campaigning on a transgender woman who was playing football with her local club.
Smith, who has not been convicted of any crime, as been ordered not to assault, threaten, stalk, harass, intimidate, approach or contact the woman until December 2026. Smith also must not approach two mid-north coast football clubs for the same period.
The court head that the woman has been subjected to Smith’s campaign since December 2022 when the club posted photos of their annual awards night.
Smith posted photos of the women to her personal Twitter and Facebook accounts alongside comments calling her a “bloke in a frock” and “the bloke playing on the women’s team”. There was also a post on the social media accounts of the Binary organisation that Smith heads. The court looked at a dozen posts that were of a concern.
She then travelled to New South Wales mid-North Cost in February 2023 with a group of men who impersonated transgender women and filmed themselves playing soccer.
The woman told the court that she feared for safety and and the safety of others in her community, and was concerned that Smith’s campaign targeting her might never stop.
The woman’s application for an Apprehended Violence Order was rejected by her local court in February 2024, but granted on appeal after a hearing in December.
Court of appeal Justice Penelope Wass found Smith’s conduct involved “ongoing behaviours which were objectively threatening.” She described them as “disturbing”.
“They interrupted her quiet and peaceful life, playing soccer on the mid- north coast for her club, in a team that accepted her and celebrated her for her commitment to the sport.
“She is not a transgender activist, simply a transgender woman who feared that her quiet life would be interrupted, hindered, or interfered with.” the judge said.
In court Smith defended her actions as political speech and described her actions as “trivial”. The judge rejected her claim and called her behaviour “a sustained campaign of belittling, harassment and intimidation”.
Binary have said that Smith will be appealing the court’s decision.
The organisation morphed out of the previous group The Marriage Alliance, who were a leading voice in the campaign against marriage equality.
They are remembered for their controversial advertisements that included people in rainbow nooses, giant icebergs and claims that children without male parents were more likely to end up using drugs, in prison or committing sexual assaults.
Prior to focusing her life on campaigning against people who are transgender Smith was a prominent campaigner against Halal labelling on food and Muslim immigration. She previously ran for federal parliament for the short-lived far-right party Australian Liberty Alliance.
Last week Smith was promoted as one of a hundred prominent Australia’s calling for a national inquiry into the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments in treating gender dysphoria of transgender youth. No suggestion is made that the organisers of that campaign were aware of Smith’s legal troubles.
