Banning a transgender woman from a female-only app constituted unlawful discrimination, a judge has found in a landmark gender-identity case.
The Giggle for Girls app and its founder Sall Grover were on Friday ordered to pay $10,000 in compensation and legal costs to a user kicked off the single-gender platform.
The decision that Roxanne Tickle suffered indirect discrimination marked the first time the Federal Court had weighed into gender identity discrimination.
‘The indirect discrimination cases succeeded because Ms Tickle was excluded from the use of the Giggle app because she did not look sufficiently female according to the respondents,’ Justice Robert Bromwich said.
In a finding that could also have implications for other female-only spaces, Justice Bromwich found that even if considered a special measure to promote equality, the Giggle app was not allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender identity.
He distinguished discrimination based on gender identity and based on sex.
The compensation amount is a sliver of the $200,000 Ms Tickle had sought, half of which was based on aggravated damages.
The latter was based on an online campaign allegedly waged against her by Ms Grover largely on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Roxanne Tickle has won her discrimination case based on gender identity
Sall Grover founded the Giggle for Girls app and is defending the claim
Following the decision, Ms Grover wrote on X: ‘Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues.’
After her victory, Ms Tickle said she was pleased by the outcome and hope it is ‘healing for trans and gender diverse people.’
‘Mostly I get to just live my life and be who I am. But a small group of people have taken it upon themselves to declare that I am not who I know I am and they have set about making my life miserable,’ Ms Tickle said in a statement.
‘This case and the unlawful and discriminatory exclusion from the Giggle app has stolen the last three years of my life. I have been targeted by hateful online commentary and degrading merchandise designed to ridicule and mock me.
‘The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination. I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave, and you can stand up for yourself. I know that I can now get on with the rest of my life and have a coffee down the road with my friends, play hockey with my team and put this horribleness behind me. ‘
Ms Tickle was blocked from the Giggle app in September 2021 on the basis of her gender, despite a birth certificate listing her as female, the court was told during a series of often-heated hearings in April.
The court was told Ms Grover created the Giggle app as a ‘safe space’ for women to interact with each other, free from male patterns of online violence.
Giggle’s barrister Bridie Nolan argued Ms Tickle was a man so it was lawful to exclude her from the app because of provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act.
She told Justice Bromwich the court was faced with the impossible task of determining whether a person was a woman based on their ‘psychological state’ and having undergone surgery to remove their reproductive organs.
Pictured: The Giggle app
‘This case is the ‘what is a woman case’,’ Ms Nolan said.
The court was told Ms Grover had persistently misgendered Ms Tickle in media interviews and across hundreds of posts about the case made to her 93,000 online followers.
Ms Tickle’s lawyer Georgina Costello said her client had received an ‘enormous’ amount of online hate as a result of Ms Grover’s actions.
‘The continued, deliberate misgendering of her cannot detract from the fact that she is a woman,’ Ms Costello argued.
Ms Costello told the court Ms Tickle had undergone gender-affirming surgery and hormone treatments, identified as a woman with her family, friends and at work, and used women’s change rooms and shops in women’s clothing departments.
‘Up until this instance, everybody has treated me as a woman,’ Ms Tickle said.
Ms Grover is a self-declared ‘TERF’ – which stands for ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’. TERFs’ views on gender identity are considered to be hostile towards transgender people.
The outcome has sparked debate online, with Ms Grover’s supporters slamming the decision.
‘What an utter embarrassment and failure on behalf of the Australian courts and politicians,’ Kirralie Smith said.
‘As bad as legal slavery and racism this pathetic and dangerous law must be overturned!
‘Restore women’s rights.’
Australian television presenter Lucy Zelic said: ‘This isn’t over #IStandwithSallGrover.’
‘It’s absolutely maddening, but this clearly demonstrates that including gender identity in legislation leaves women with no enforceable boundaries against any man,’ Ro Edge, co-founder of Save Women’s Sports Australasia, said.
Protestors supporting transgender rights are seen outside the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney during a hearing in April
Victorian MP Moira Deeming (second from the left) is pictured with Ms Grover (second from the right), Rachel Wong (far right) and Katherine Deves (far left)
‘We’re with you all the way,’ Victorian MP Moira Deeming wrote on X, sharing a picture of her with Ms Grover, controversial 2022 Liberal Party candidate Katherine Deves and Women’s Forum CEO Rachel Wong.
Others applauded the ruling, arguing it was the right outcome.
‘Brilliant victory for the trans community. Massive congratulations to Roxanne Tickle,’ one woman wrote on X.
‘Proud of you, you amazing woman!’
‘A spectacular outcome in Tickle v Giggle, and now we get to cite Tickle v Giggle as a key precedent in defending and protecting women’s rights from misogyny,’ a man said.
‘Yes, in case you don’t understand the law or how to read court judgments; Roxanne Tickle is a woman.’
Another person wrote: ‘Hope Sall Grover will have the decency to apologise to Roxanne Tickle.’
Jackie Turner, from the Trans Justice Project, said the decision was a ‘major step forward for the freedom and equality of all women’.
‘The decision today is a major step forward for the freedom and equality of all women. It affirms that women who are trans are indeed protected from discrimination under the current laws, the same as all other women.’
‘Roxy has shown incredible bravery in standing up to a campaign of bullying and harassment to fight for the rights of the trans and gender diverse community. She should be incredibly proud of what she has managed to achieve.’
Friday’s decision can be appealed.