Australian transgender woman wins landmark case against women-only app

By Jamie McKinnellABC News

A landmark ruling by the Federal Court in Australia found that excluding a transgender woman from a women-only app was unlawful discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.

In February 2021, Roxanne Tickle downloaded the social media platform Giggle for Girls, which was intended to be an “online haven” for women.

Users submitted selfies that were to be evaluated by AI-powered software to confirm they were female.

Tickle’s photo was approved, but her account was restricted later that same year after the block was manually removed.

The court case she initiated is the first since the 2013 changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to allege discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.

Lawyers for the app’s CEO, Sall Grover, who was named as a defendant, denied any discrimination.

They invoked an exception to sex discrimination law, arguing that the app was a special measure intended to ensure substantive equality between men and women.

Judge Robert Bromwich ruled on Friday that Tickle had been indirectly discriminated against on the basis of gender identity.

The judge ordered Tickle to pay $10,000 in damages plus costs.

The Latest: Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle has won a groundbreaking gender identity case against a women-only social media app and its owner after she was banned from the platform. Read more: https://t.co/Xp60op10jB photo:twitter.com/uhyjDFgVGm

— The Australian (@australian) August 23, 2024

The judge found that the direct discrimination claim was unfounded, but the indirect discrimination claim was based on a condition of using the Giggle app that Tickle had to look like a cisgender woman.

The court previously heard that Tickle had been living as a woman since 2017, was issued a birth certificate in 2018 which changed her name and gave her gender as female, and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2019.

“Until now, everyone has treated me like a woman,” she said during her testimony.

Judge says gender-unchangeable argument fails

Tickle’s attorney, Georgina Costello KC, said the case law made clear that “sex”, “gender” and “male” and “female” were not binary categories.

She argued that it was not a purely biological issue, but partly psychological and partly social.

Reading a summary of his decision on Friday, Mr Justice Bromwich said the defendants believed that by gender they meant the sex of a person at birth, which they considered to be unchangeable.

“These arguments proved to be flawed as the view put forward by the respondents was contrary to a long history of cases decided by the courts, stretching back more than 30 years,” he said.

“These cases prove that in the common understanding, gender is mutable.”

Costello also rejected the exclusion argument, saying it was part of a series of “artificial, after-the-fact justifications” for discrimination.

Grover’s attorney, Bridie Nolan, argued that gender is biological and gender is a social construct, denying that Tickle had the “psychology of a woman.”

She told the court her client felt “harassed and intimidated” by Tickle’s attempts to contact her about her Giggle account, including eight unanswered emails before an attempted phone call.

The apology will be made “through gritted teeth”

The app was intended to be a “corner of the internet” where women could “find refuge from men,” Nolan said, and its creators had “no idea at all that men could be considered women.”

Tickle also sought an order requiring him to provide a written apology, but Mr Justice Bromwich refused to grant it.

“It goes without saying that any apology made by Ms Grover, and any apology made by her on behalf of Giggle, will be delivered through gritted teeth and completely devoid of sincerity,” he said.

“She wouldn’t do anything more than say she’s sorry, but she wouldn’t actually be sorry. She sticks to her sincerely held beliefs.”

Tickle’s legal team said the woman had suffered significant distress, pain and humiliation.

They argued that the damages award was increased due to Grover’s refusal to apologise and her “public defamation” of Tickle, including comments that “continually misgendered” Tickle.

The court also heard that a third party was selling offensive goods to raise funds for Grover’s legal bills.

“All women are protected from discrimination”

After leaving the courtroom, Tickle said the court case had “stolen” the last three years of her life.

She said she had been the subject of hateful comments online and had seen products that were meant to ridicule and mock her.

“There is so much hate and bile directed at transgender and gender nonconforming people simply because of who we are,” she said.

“Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not all people are like that.”

Tickle said the hate hasn’t just affected her, but has hurt many transgender and gender nonconforming people.

She hoped the case would end with “healing.”

“This ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination,” she said.

“I brought my case to show transgender people that you can be brave and stand up for yourself.”

Anna Cody, sex discrimination commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, said she was “happy” discrimination was included in the judgment.

“We now know that … you can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Cody said.

“I think this ruling shows that we want an inclusive society in which everyone can participate, including transgender people of all sexual orientations.

“She (Tickle) wanted to be able to connect with other women about cooking, recipes, housing… to be able to connect with people.”

As she left the courtroom, Grover said she had expected this decision.

“Unfortunately, this is the verdict we expected and the fight for women’s rights in Australia continues.”

The application is not currently available online.

This article was originally published by ABC News.