LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Conservative Christians and feminist campaigners may seem unlikely bed fellows - but the two groups have found common cause when it comes to blocking transgender rights in Australia. Both argue that trans women pose a risk to women and children in changing rooms, toilets and rape shelters, in a microcosm of an increasingly vicious culture war that is being waged across the developed English-speaking world.

Some feminists fear trans women will jeopardize their hard-won gains, while religious conservatives from San Francisco to Sydney say people who transition gender go against God’s will. Both groups play on fears that a tiny minority is wielding too much sway in the media and over public policy.

“There’s this uneasy alliance,” said Rob Cover, an associate professor at the University of Western Australia, in summing up the union.

The religious right was galvanized after it failed to stop same-sex marriage becoming legal in Australia in 2017, ending up on the same side as some feminists in opposing trans rights. The groups then failed to stop state-level laws in Victoria and Tasmania that make it easier for trans people to change their gender on identity documents, a policy known as ‘self-ID’. They are still campaigning on claims that children who may not be transgender are undergoing irreversible medical gender transitions and seeking to bar trans women from women’s sport. Read more via Reuters