An app intended as an “online refuge” for women became the site of alleged gender identity discrimination, a court has heard in a landmark case that will test the meaning and scope of the Sex Discrimination Act.
Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman from regional New South Wales, is suing the women-only social media platform Giggle for Girls after being blocked from using the app.
In a lawsuit filed in December 2022, Tickle claimed she was unlawfully barred from using Giggle in September 2021 after the firm and its CEO, Sall Grover, said she was a man. Tickle is seeking damages.
The case is the first time alleged gender identity discrimination has been heard by the federal court and goes to the heart of how gender identity – and being a woman – is interpreted.
Tickle gave evidence late on Tuesday afternoon. When asked to detail what “living as a female” meant, the accountant described taking hormones that changed her body, having gender affirmation surgery and undergoing social transitions.
She has changed her gender markers on government documents and spent time and money on her wardrobe and removing her facial hair, as well as using female changing rooms and playing in a female hockey team, she said.
The court heard that Grover started the app after receiving trauma therapy for social media abuse while living in the US.
“It would be a place without harassment, mansplaining, dick pics, stalking, aggression … the vision was to create an online refuge,” said Nolan.
The court heard that from its nascency, the app came under attack. Grover was labelled a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, or Terf, and received thousands of applications from men who attempted to join.
By September 2021, the app had 20,000 users but was shut down in August 2022.
The Australian Human Rights Commission, including the sex discrimination commissioner, is acting as a friend of the court, assisting by providing submissions about the scope, meaning and validity of the Sex Discrimination Act. Tickle made a complaint about Giggle to the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2021.