Mumbai, August 23: In a landmark judgement by Australia's Federal Court in the "Tickle vs Giggle" case, the social media app "Giggle for Girls" was ordered to pay Roxanne Tickle AUD 10,000 (USD 6,700) plus legal costs in an alleged gender discrimination case filed by the latter. When it came to gender identity and the validity of Australia's Sex Discrimination Act of 2013, this case marked the first time the apex court made a ruling regarding the sex-based rights of citizens.

Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman from south-eastern Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state, filed the lawsuit against both the app and its CEO, Sall Grover, claiming a compensation of around AUD 2,00,000 for being persistent misgendering, indirectly discriminating and denying access to the online platform on the basis of being male in 2021. The app is an all-female-only platform, barring men from registering to ensure a "safe-space" for women to voice their experiences. However, Tickle claimed that as someone who identifies as a woman, she was legally entitled to use services meant for women.

The Judgement

Although the Federal Court ordered Giggle for Girls to pay Tickle for the alleged harassment she underwent, it declined Tickle's request for the need of a written apology by the app. Judge Robert Bronwich affirmed this by stating, "Tickle's claim of direct gender identity discrimination fails, but her claim of indirect gender identity discrimination succeeds." Australia Announce Transgender Policy, to Include Gender-Diverse People in Top-Level and Community Cricket.

Tickle's win in the case led to a reconsideration of whether the sex of a person could be equated with the unchangeable sex of a person at birth. Judge Bronwich's decision that case laws had consistently found sex is "changeable and not necessarily binary" ultimately nullified Giggle’s argument that sex is a biological concept. The outcome of this case will potentially set a legal precedent for the resolution of all future conflicts between gender identity rights and sex-based rights, leading it to become a landmark case in the history of Australian gender rights.

Giggle for Girls CEO Sall Grover on X 

Reactions to the Judgement

Tickle called the verdict "healing" after allegedly receiving hateful comments online and stated, "the ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination." She further added, "there is so much hate and bile cast on trans and gender diverse people simply because of who we are," as quoted by Australian media in her interview outside the court. Monash University Professor Paula Gerber was quoted by BBC saying, "This decision is a great win for transgender women in Australia... It is not lawful to make decisions about whether a person is a woman based on how feminine they appear." Algeria's Imane Khelif: Why Sex, Gender Aren't Binary Issues.

However, the judgement led to ideological debates between trans-inclusion versus sex-based rights among people. In her X post, the Giggle for Girls CEO, Sall Grover, wrote, "Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues." Grover strictly said a "No", when she was questioned by Tickle’s lawyer Georgina Costello KC whether, "a person who was assigned male at birth transitions to a woman by having surgery... you don’t accept that is a woman?"

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 23, 2024 03:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).