Court upholds transgender woman's discrimination claims

The Federal Court has ruled in favour of transgender woman Roxanne Tickle’s discrimination claims after an appeal by the founder of a women-only app.

In 2024, a court determined that Giggle for Girls’ exclusion of trans women was discriminatory.

The now-defunct app’s founder Sall Grover appealed this decision, however, on Friday the court upheld Tickle’s claims.

Here’s what you need to know about the case.

Tickle

Roxanne Tickle is a transgender woman living in NSW. Her birth certificate has been updated to reflect her sex as female.

Tickle downloaded the app Gigglein 2021. As part of the application process, users were required tosubmit a photo to prove they werewomen. The images were assessed by AI software and could later be reviewed by a staff member.

Grover told The Australian in 2022 that she removed Tickle from the platform after seeing her photo, but later told the court she could not recall doing so.

Initial case

Tickle tried to find out why she’d been blocked but received no response from the platform. She then lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

After Grover chose not to participate in formal talks, Tickle escalated the matter to the Federal Court alleging Giggle hadunlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of her gender identity.

In 2013, the Sex Discrimination Act was expanded to make discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status illegal.

Grover’s lawyers argued Giggle did not discriminate against Tickle on the basis of gender identity, saying the app screened users based on whether they appeared male.

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They also argued that, even if discrimination occurred, it was lawful because Giggle was a protected women-only spaceunder sex discrimination laws.

In 2024, the Federal Court found Tickle had been indirectly discriminated against after being blocked from Giggle based on her appearance.

Tickle was awarded $10,000 in damages.

Appeal

Soon after the judgement was handed down, Grover appealed the decision.

Tickle then lodged a cross-appealagainst the same ruling.

This week, the Federal Court ruled in Tickle’s favour, finding she had been subjected to “two acts of direct discrimination”based on her gender identity.

Grover was ordered to pay Tickle $20,000 and cover part of her legal costs.

“She was treated less favourably than a cisgender woman would have been in the same circumstances... Giggle and Ms Grover therefore discriminated against her on the ground of her gender identity," Justices Melissa Perry, Wendy Abraham, and Geoffrey Kennett said in their judgement.