Damages doubled after trans woman’s landmark discrimination win

A transgender woman who won a landmark discrimination suit after she was excluded from a social media app marketed as a “women-only safe space” has had her victory increased by an appeal court and her damages doubled.

Roxanne Tickle took the company behind the app, Giggle for Girls, and its founder, Sall Grover, to the Federal Court in 2022, alleging they breached Commonwealth discrimination laws.

The court ruled in Tickle’s favour in 2024 and ordered the company and Grover to pay Tickle $10,000 in compensation plus legal costs.

Grover and the company lodged an appeal. In a cross-appeal, Tickle asked the court to find the discrimination against her was direct, rather than indirect, and to increase the damages.

In a decision on Friday, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed the appeal and upheld Tickle’s cross-appeal.

Justices Melissa Perry, Wendy Abraham and Geoffrey Kennett found Giggle and Grover had excluded Tickle on the basis of her gender-related appearance, and this amounted to direct discrimination on the ground of her gender identity. The court increased her damages to $20,000.

The court said some of Grover’s conduct in the case, such as repeatedly misgendering Tickle, was “gratuitous, disrespectful and unnecessary” and “aggravated the hurt suffered” by her.

“It did not advance her defence,” the court said.

In a statement after the decision, Tickle said: “I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and that you can stand up for yourself.

“In the process, I surprised myself at just how brave I could be. Young Roxy would be surprised but overjoyed.”

She said there was “so much hate and bile cast on trans and gender diverse people, simply because of who we are”, and it was usually “by those who refuse to meet us or engage with us”.

Grover said in a statement that she was “absolutely devastated” by the decision, and it was “women who are being discriminated against”.

Under the Sex Discrimination Act, it is unlawful for providers of goods and services to discriminate against another person on the ground of the other person’s gender identity. Some exemptions are available.

Tickle, who was assigned male at birth, had gender-affirming surgery after 2017. Her birth certificate records her sex as female.

In his 2024 decision, Federal Court Judge Robert Bromwich found Tickle was excluded from the app because Grover reviewed Tickle’s “selfie”, which had been uploaded when she registered for the app, and concluded she was male.

The judge concluded it was most likely Grover did not know Tickle was a transgender woman “and instead excluded her on the quick or reflexive decision that she appeared to Ms Grover to be a male”.

He said Giggle for Girls and Grover indirectly discriminated against Tickle by imposing a condition that she must “have the appearance of a cisgender woman”, meaning a woman whose gender corresponds to the sex registered for her at birth.

But the appeal court said the discrimination in this case was direct. It found she was treated less favourably than a cisgender woman, on the basis of her gender-related appearance.

Grover confirmed during her evidence in court that she regarded transgender women as “male”.

She described her vision for the app in written evidence as “a little corner of the internet where women from all over the world could have a refuge away from men”.

“It would be a place without harassment, ‘mansplaining’, ‘dick pics’, stalking, and aggression, and other male patterned online behaviour.” The app was taken offline in 2022.

The court heard Tickle downloaded the Giggle app in early 2021. The registration process included uploading a selfie, the court heard. AI software accepted the photo, and Tickle gained access to the app.

Later that year, however, Tickle’s use of the app was restricted, and she was blocked from purchasing premium features.

Bromwich in 2024 said it was “not my role … to have regard to the evolutionary or biological definitions or features of human sex”.

“That is because … the legal definition of a woman (or man) is not so confined,” he said.

“Ms Tickle is a legal female, as reflected in her updated birth certificate. The discrimination complained of by Ms Tickle is on the basis of gender identity and not sex.”

Monash University Professor Paula Gerber, a human rights law expert, said the decision “affirms that Australia has strong legislation that protects trans people from discrimination on the basis of their gender identity” and Australia was not “at risk of following the path the UK has gone down”.

In a ruling last year, the UK’s highest court said the terms “woman” and “sex” in equality legislation referred to “biological sex”. However, the issues canvassed in that case were different to the dispute over the Giggle app.

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