Transgender woman’s ban from female-only app discriminatory, court rules

Australian judge orders trans woman be paid $6,700 in compensation over exclusion from Giggle for Girls networking app. Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman from the state of New South Wales, was subjected to “indirect gender discrimination” when she was blocked from the Giggle for Girls app in 2021 on the basis that she was born a man, the Federal Court of Australia said on Friday. Giggle for Girls creator Sall Grover had argued that women-only spaces should be allowed to limit access to “cisgender” women, or those whose birth sex aligns with their gender identity. “Nor do the respondents deny in this proceeding that the effect of this condition was that it would not just exclude men who were male sex at birth, but also transgender women too, including transgender women who are legally regarded as female.” Bromwich said that Tickle was considered female under the law, as reflected in her updated birth certificate, and that it was outside his purview to “consider, far less determine, the general nature of biological sex.” “The science behind that evidence is not, as far as it goes, in dispute. Tickle, who underwent gender-affirming surgery in 2019, told Australia’s national broadcaster outside court that she hoped the outcome would promote “healing”.