Judge hands transgender woman win against female-only app in landmark case

A judge in Australia ruled Friday that the owner of a female-only social networking platform discriminated against a transgender woman by removing her from the app because she was born a male.

Reuters reported that Roxanne Tickle sued the Australian app Giggle for Girls, as well as its founder, Sally Grover, for unlawful gender identity discrimination in its services.

The suit claimed Grover removed Tickle’s account from the platform after she saw her photo and "considered her to be male."

In a landmark decision on gender identity in Australia, the Federal Court — considered to be the country’s second-highest court — ordered Giggle for Girls to pay Tickle 10,000 Australian dollars ($6,700 U.S.) plus legal costs.

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Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle leaves the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, Australia, August 23, 2024. (AAP/Dean Lewins via REUTERS)

Judge Robert Bromwich, who oversaw the trial, did not order Giggle for Girls to issue a written apology, which Tickle had sought.

"Tickle's claim of direct gender identity discrimination fails, but her claim of indirect gender identity discrimination succeeds," Bromwich said.

This is the first time the Australian Federal Court has made a ruling on gender identity discrimination since the Sex Discrimination Act was modified in 2013.

Professor Paula Gerber of Monash University’s Faculty of Law said the court’s decision was "a great win for transgender women in Australia."

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Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle leaves the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, on Friday. (AAP/Dean Lewins via REUTERS)

"This case sends a clear message to all Australians that it is unlawful to treat transgender women differently from cisgender women. It is not lawful to make decisions about whether a person is a woman based on how feminine they appear," she said.

The platform Giggle for Girls was marketed as a "safe space" for women to share and discuss their experiences. Reuters reported that court filings show the platform had about 20,000 users in 2021.

The company placed a temporary stop to operations in 2022, but Grover says the platform will be relaunched soon.

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A judge in Australia ruled Friday that the owner of a female-only social networking platform discriminated against a transgender woman. (iStock)

In his decision, the judge claimed the platform considered only sex at birth as being a valid basis for a person to claim to be a man or woman.

The plaintiff was born a male and had sex reassignment surgery before Tickle’s birth certificate was updated, Bromwich said.

"Unfortunately, we got the [judgment] we anticipated," Grover said in a post on X. "The fight for women's rights continues."

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Tickle reportedly called the judge’s decision "healing," after receiving hateful comments online and seeing merchandise created specifically to mock her.

"There is so much hate and bile cast on trans and gender-diverse people simply because of who we are," Australian media quoted her as saying outside the court.

Reuters contributed to this report.