A city councillor in Hobart, Australia, is under investigation for a social media post describing a trans-identified male as a “man.” Louise Elliot, who was previously the subject of a tribunal inquiry for saying “trans women are men,” was previously the victim of threats from the very individual who reported her for “misgendering” him.
On July 24, Elliot announced via her X account that she was being subjected to yet another investigation, this time for labeling a trans-identified male who threatened to assault her as a “man.” The incident had occurred the day before while Elliot was campaigning at a shopping center. The man, who cannot yet be named, reportedly walked by Elliot and told her “I’m going to rip you to shreds.”
On X, Elliot says the individual was overtly male in appearance and behavior.
“I described them as a man as that’s what I saw; an obvious male person with heavy male build, male jawline, male gait, male voice, and definitely male aggression,” Elliot wrote. “This person threatened me, and now I’m the one being investigated for ‘misgendering.’ There was no visible name badge, no ‘transwoman’ tattooed on forehead. I have lawyered up to fight this, again.”
Although details of the allegations are limited while the investigation is underway, Reduxx has seen documentation confirming that Elliot is accused of “possible incitement to hatred, serious contempt, or severe ridicule on the basis of gender identity” by “misgendering and insulting transgender women” and “referring to their ‘abuse.'”
However, in a 17-page document outlining Elliot’s alleged offenses, it is claimed that her language may “go further… and may have the effect of inciting hatred towards transgender women and transgender people more generally.”
Elliot’s legal defense, lawyer and former Liberal Party candidate Katherine Deves, received a letter from the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Sarah Bolt, on August 13 notifying Elliot that the complaint against her is set to proceed to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. A footnote beneath Bolt’s signature reads, “Celebrating difference, embracing equality.”
Curiously, the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner’s referral report, which details specific statements made by Elliot, contains an error and falsely accuses Elliot of producing a “Candidate Report Card” which was in fact created by the Australian Christian Lobby. The leaflet, which Elliot had no part in creating, rates her positively and states that she “supports parental rights” and “will protect vulnerable and sex-confused kids.”
But despite having not made the materials herself, Elliot is accused by the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of inciting hatred by “making a negative association for access to gender affirming hormone replacement therapy for transgender youth, thus encouraging hated towards those people that support and facilitate transgender youth in accessing this life-saving medical intervention.”
The report also highlights several social media posts made by Elliot, including one post made to her X account on July 29, 2023, which read: “The rabid, screaming, narcissistic, volatile men. I can clearly remember their faces, their taunts and abuse, their stench. Being in the thick of the Hobart event changed everything. The dangers of the cult became very real.”
Elliot’s statement refers to the reaction from trans activists to a women’s rights event she attended on March 21, 2023, organized by Standing for Women and led by British women’s rights campaigner Kellie Jay-Keen. In a video of the event, which was live-streamed at the time, a large mob of hundreds of trans activists surrounded the women and attempted to drown out their voices with chants and shouts.
Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Bolt commented, “By this post Louise Elliot misgendered and insulted those transgender women present.”
Speaking to Reduxx, Elliot called the investigation a “waste of resources,” as it is taxpayers’ money which funds “this rubbish.”
“Yet again the law is being weaponized and significant taxpayer money wasted attacking people who tell the truth. This absurd complaint is essentially about me correctly identifying men as men and referring to them as such,” Elliot said.
“A very obvious male person proactively got my attention and threatened me in a local supermarket, telling me that ‘I’m going to rip you to shreds’ while doing a strong arm sign – then yelled out ‘trans rights’. And now I’m being investigated for discrimination and inciting hatred for calling him a ‘he’. This person threatened me, but now the law is after me,” she continued.
Elliot has endured multiple warnings and investigations since attending the Let Women Speak rally last March. Just one month after her participation, where she delivered a speech stating that it is impossible to change sex, and that “trans women… remain biological men,” Elliot received a letter from Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Bolt informing her that an investigation had been opened into her statements for “inciting hatred” under the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.
“While the majority of men are decent, kind, and caring people, men present an inherent danger to women. The vast majority of sex offenders and violence perpetrators are men. One in ten Australian women have experienced violence at the hands of a stranger. One in five Australian women have experienced sexual violence,” Elliot said at the rally.
In November, Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Bolt ruled that Elliot’s case would proceed to a tribunal inquiry. In response, Elliot continued to be vocal about her situation on X, revealing that she had additionally been cautioned by a Code of Conduct panel within the Hobart city council for criticizing gender ideology training as a form of “re-education” initiated after the investigation against her was opened by the ADC.
“We had a training session from a local organization, and I questioned some of the details that were in their fact sheet. Some of the details I found quite concerning, for example, statements that, ‘Trans women are not dominating women’s sport.’ I disagreed with that and tweeted some pictures of trans women playing in women’s soccer, and it’s happening globally,” Elliot said.
“In the fact sheet we had, they also tried to say that because black women are women, trans women are women. And I found that really quite a disturbing statement, quite racist and far from the truth.”
The fact sheet presented during the diversity training session, run in September by Working It Out Tasmania, also argued that trans-identified males do not pose a risk in female-only spaces.
“There is very little evidence of women’s spaces being secretly infiltrated by people with criminal motives, eg, sexual assault. Nearly every story that has emerged in the media or research regarding this has been disproven or discredited,” the document stated.
The ADC investigation into Elliot for her statements at the women’s rights rally was dropped in March, after nearly a year. The process was costly for the Hobart councilor, and Elliot said she had to spend nearly $20,000 in court and legal fees to defend herself. While she has been crowdfunding to offset her costs, the ADC investigations into her for allegedly “inciting hatred” have been funded by taxpayers.
In addition to the litigation, Elliot says she’s also been experiencing harassment from her colleagues for criticizing gender identity ideology. In a video she shared to X in October, Elliot described how she had been singled out for her views.
“Over the past several months, I’ve been copping some pretty heavy bullying by some of the Hobart City Councilors, and collectively as a council. You hear the Hobart City Council talking a lot about inclusion, diversity, and being welcoming and kind… But inclusion is welcomed if you agree with their thinking. If you don’t agree, then you are heavily excluded and targeted and bullied,” she said.
During one meeting, the Deputy Lord Mayor Councilor Helen Burnet put forward a motion that the council write to three different organizations to complain about Elliot. The councilors wrote to the Integrity Commission, the Anti-Discrimination Commission, and local government officials to request action be taken against Elliot over a series of posts she made on X.
Elliot further revealed that she had been sent a letter by Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Helen Burnet chastising her for her views.
“You have consistently spoken out against transgender people and have on the public record refuted that transgender women are women,” the letter read. At Burnet’s request the city council asked the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner to consider that Elliot had, in their view, breached the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1998, which was amended in 2019 to include the subjective category of gender identity, but does not presently provide legal protections on the basis of biological sex.
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