Police in Australia have issued an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) to a woman after several people online reported her for opposing the inclusion of a male player in a women’s soccer league.
Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman for Binary Australia, an advocacy group seeking to “push back against harmful gender theory and the aggressive ideological agenda that comes with it,” was handed the AVO by police in New South Wales on March 30.
Police were alerted after Smith gave an interview about Riley Dennis, a man identifying as a woman who has reportedly injured several female soccer players. The order forbids Smith from discussing Dennis or approaching him. The order is a temporary one, however. An Australian court will weigh in later this month to decide whether the AVO is justified.
This is not the first time Smith has fought to defend women’s sports. According to Reduxx, “Smith mobilized supporters to participate in an email campaign that resulted in a total of over 12,000 complaints being submitted to authorities at Football New South Wales (FNSW). The complaints were largely related to Dennis, who is alleged to have injured female players at a match in March.”
In an interview with Reduxx, Smith said she believes her social media posts regarding Dennis prompted the state to issue the AVO.
NSW police have applied for an apprehended violence order against me. I am currently opposing it.
I am 51, with a busted knee, & have never been violent in my life.
It is not violence to speak the truth. https://t.co/MZTgHPgRWB
— Kirralie Smith (@KirralieS) April 30, 2023
Sharing messages defending women’s sports will be a lot more problematic for Smith from now on. Smith is forbidden from engaging in any “electronic harassment” of Dennis. This prohibition puts Smith’s social media activity under the purview of Australia’s eSafety Commission, a government entity aimed at preventing “cyber abuse.” One of the significant results of this provision of the AVO has been the removal of Smith’s public Facebook page, which she had used to advocate for women’s rights.
The E Safety Commissioner had my FB page with 47,000 deleted because I keep saying men are not women.
They are trying to get this account deleted as well @elonmusk
The Australian government doesn't want to #LetWomenSpeak
Sign up https://t.co/hpGPYQh7n3 to get real news.
— Kirralie Smith (@KirralieS) April 30, 2023
The outlet Reduxx itself has been censored by the Australian government. The eSafety Commissioner ordered the outlet to “censor or delete” an article that named Dennis, the trans soccer player, as the person who injured the female players at the soccer game in March.
Reduxx has been contacted by the Australian Government and advised to censor or delete an article we published on April 1. The article identified a trans activist accused of injuring female players at a women's soccer game.
For that, we have been told we violated Australian law. pic.twitter.com/YXPK4Lnxid
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) April 28, 2023
As Reduxx reports:
In the article targeted by the eSafety Commissioner, Reduxx had revealed that Dennis was one of as many as five trans-identified male players currently competing against women in Football New South Wales competitions. An initial report from The Daily Mail Australia had chosen not to identify him when reporting on the injuries he was alleged to have caused, censoring images of him and declining to provide his name. However, Reduxx confirmed the player’s identity using the censored images from The Daily Mail Australia report and cross-referencing them to Dennis’ social media.
If the court upholds the AVO against Smith, she could face criminal charges. But, despite that, she believes some good has come from the action taken against her.
“One good thing to come out of these difficulties is the way it draws women together,” Smith said. “It isn’t about left or right, ethnicity or anything else. We are women and I now get to call some friends that I otherwise wouldn’t. Beauty from ashes.’
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