Katherine Deves

Katherine Deves, an Australian lawyer who ran as a Liberal candidate for the seat of Warringah in the 2022 Australian federal election, discusses how her campaign was in part derailed by her views on gender identity. Framing this ideology as a religion where the god is the “curated identity” of the self, Deves likens the gender identity cult to “Revenge of the Losers”, where people who never had friends at school “have accumulated social capital online” to command public opinion. Accounting for the civil and criminal sanctions in Australia imposed upon those who do not go along with gender identity, Deves elaborates how “transgender vilification” has been incorporated within the anti-discrimination law in New South Wales, where “vilify” can simply be ideological disagreement and where, as Deves notes, even if the accused can successfully defend herself from this criminal charge through the public interest exemption, “the process is the punishment.” Deves also covers how “gender identity” is a protected characteristic at the federal level, noting how, with recent proposed laws in the state of Victoria that say anyone not to affirm someone’s “gender identity”, they could potentially be charged with crime. Deves goes on to analyse how this ideology is “so impoverished” that it has affected our cultures, where from this movement no art or music is produced, where there is “no singing, no community…no joy.” Deves describes how this ideology has created a socio-political environment of nervousness where the current reality is “merciless, heartless and brutal,” as she exposes how many people irrationally go along with this ideology despite having no idea what they are conceding until the moment they find themselves “up against it.”