Australian woman faces criminal charges for 'misgendering' male soccer player — asked in court if she is being 'mean'

An Australian woman who advocates for women's sports to remain female-only is facing two legal criminal accusations of "misgendering."

Kirralie Smith, an activist, has had two Apprehended Violence Orders filed against her by two male athletes posing as females and was accused in court of "deliberately misgendering."

Dennis was then listed as a 6'2" athlete who broke the leg of a girl who is 5'6."

While an AVO in Australia is typically reserved for domestic violence, it can be filed by any person who feels they are a victim of "physical assault, threats of physical harm, stalking, intimidation or harassment" and believes the threats will continue, according to New South Wales Police.

One of the claims came from a soccer player named Riley Dennis; Blaze News reported in 2024 that this individual was accused of injuring a female soccer player and sending her to the hospital. Dennis plays for the Flying Bats, a football club for "self-identified women and non-binary people."

Dennis was then listed as a 6'2" athlete who broke the leg of a girl who is 5'6" and spawned two dozen other females to quit because they did not want to play against the transgender-filled team. Yahoo Sports reported that the injured girl's leg was broken in two different places.

Activist Sall Grover was reportedly present during Smith's court proceeding on Monday and claimed a barrister asked Smith if she would call Dennis "she/her," to which the defendant said "no."

Smith was also allegedly asked if not using the pronouns is "mean," to which she replied that it would be mean to expect her to lie.

"Is it because she doesn't like trans people?" Grover wrote about the court proceeding. "No. It's a fact based statement," Smith reportedly answered.

Sky News Australia described the court proceeding as having "dramatic scenes" and said the "entire case" centers around "a couple of tweets Kirralie Smith posted back in 2023."

This was the second time Smith appeared in court for an AVO, however. Reduxx reported that Smith was accused by another male player, who goes by Stephanie Blanch, of holding unacceptable views. Blanch reportedly told a court he felt "threatened" by the idea that Smith did not think men should be in women's sports.

Blanch's supporting documentation included an X post by Smith about "a bloke on the women’s team in Wingham," the team on which Blanch plays.

In December, an Australian court acknowledged that Smith "repeatedly referred to" Blanch as a "male, a man, a bloke" and "he." A local judge declared that Smith indeed was "deliberately misgendering" Blanch, which was "stirring up controversy."

Blanch was awarded what essentially amounted to a restraining order against Smith, which required Smith to refrain from contacting Blanch as well as not "nam[ing] or identify[ing] the Appellant by her name Stephanie Blanch or by [name redacted]."

The order ends in December 2026.

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