Transgender ban from ‘women-only’ app remains unlawful
A “female-only” social media app has failed to overturn a finding that it discriminated against a transgender user, paving the way for a gender identity battle in the Supreme Court.
Sall Grover, founder of the Giggle for Girls app, had sought to appeal the 2024 decision, which found Roxanne Tickle had suffered indirect discrimination and ordered Ms Grover to pay $10,000 in compensation and legal costs.
For the first time, the Federal Court weighed in on gender identity discrimination.
In the ruling delivered by the full panel on Friday, Judge Melissa Perry told the court that Ms Grover had excluded Ms Tickle from the Giggle app because of her gender-related appearance, citing her selfie.
“This amounted to direct discrimination by reference to a characteristic of people with Ms Tickle’s gender identity,” Judge Perry told the court.
The judges also decided to reassess the compensation awarded by the court and increase the amount to be paid to Ms Tickle to $20,000.
The court was told during a series of often heated hearings in April 2024 that Ms Tickle was blocked from the Giggle app in September 2021 because of her gender, despite being listed as female on her birth certificate.
Giggle’s lawyer, Bridie Nolan, argued that Ms Tickle was male so it was legal to exclude her from the practice due to provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act.
But her lawyer, Georgina Costello, said Ms Tickle had undergone gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments, identified as a woman with family, friends and at work, and used women’s changing rooms and stores in women’s clothing departments.
He had claimed $200,000 in damages, half of which was based on aggravated damages, following an online campaign run by Ms Grover.
The court was told Ms Grover persistently misgendered Ms Tickle in media interviews and in hundreds of posts about the case to her 93,000 online followers.
Ms Costello said this resulted in a “tremendous” amount of hate towards Ms Tickle.
At an appeal hearing in August, lawyers for the practice argued that it was a “special measure” exempt from discrimination law because it was aimed at ensuring substantial equality between men and women.
Ms Grover’s lawyers said her aim was to create a “safe space” for women.
But lawyers for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner opposed this, arguing that “bad discrimination” could be allowed to occur under the guise of a special measure.
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