A transgender woman has won her gender discrimination case against the founder of a women-only social media app.
Federal Court Justice Robert Bromwich today found that Roxanne Tickle was subject to “indirect discrimination” when she was removed from ‘Giggle for Girls’, a now-inactive messaging platform, in 2021.
The creator of the app, Sally Grover, denies any wrongdoing, and has repeatedly denied that Tickle is female.
Tickle v Giggle
Roxanne Tickle is a transgender woman living in NSW. Her birth certificate has been updated to reflect her sex as female.
Tickle downloaded ‘Giggle’ in 2021. Part of the application process to access Giggle was submitting a photo to prove a prospective user was a woman. The photos were evaluated by an AI software, and could later be checked by a staff member.
Grover told The Australian in 2022 that she removed Tickle from Giggle after seeing her photo, but later told the court she didn’t remember doing so.
AHRC
After Tickle was blocked from the platform, she attempted to contact Giggle to find out why. When she received no response, she launched a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Tickle escalated the case to the Federal Court after Grover chose not to participate in formal talks.
Tickle alleged she was unfairly discriminated against because of her gender identity by Giggle.
Sex Discrimination Act
This case is the first time a gender identity discrimination case within Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) has been heard in the Federal Court.
Changes to the SDA in 2013 made it unlawful to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status.
Grover’s lawyers argued that Giggle did discriminate against Tickle, but did so legally, because Grover believes Tickle is a man in terms of sex and therefore was not able to access a women-only space.
Judgment
Today, Justice Bromwich found that Tickle’s birth certificate is “legally sufficient” evidence that she is a woman.
“The acceptance that Ms Tickle is correctly described as a woman… is legally unimpeachable.”
Bromwich said Grover’s lawyers had misunderstood “the concept of sex” under Australian law, which had been established “almost 30 years ago”, and that they were “essentially taking issue with the very concept of gender identity.”
Bromwich found Tickle was subject to “indirect discrimination” because she was blocked from Giggle based on her appearance.
The judge found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove Tickle was subject to “direct discrimination” based on her gender identity, but that “it remains possible” this was why she was blocked from Giggle.
Bromwich awarded Tickle $10,000 in damages.
In a post to X this morning, Grover said: “The fight for women’s rights continues.”
