Trans woman Roxanne Tickle has won her discrimination case against women-only social media app Giggle for Girls, which had barred her from the service, in a decision billed as a landmark test of trans rights law in Australia.
The Federal Court found that Tickle had not been directly discriminated against but had been the victim of indirect discrimination and ordered the app to pay her $10,000.
Justice Robert Bromwich read out a summary of his decision on Friday and noted that Giggle’s founder Sall Grover removed Tickle when she saw her photo and “considered her to be male”. Giggle had argued that the discrimination was permitted because, in its view, Tickle was of the male sex and that was unchangeable.
But, Bromwich ruled: “These arguments failed because the view propounded by the respondents conflicted with a long history of cases decided by courts over 30 years”.
He said that “on its ordinary meaning, sex is changeable”.
In a social media post after the decision, Grover said she had expected the decision but “the fight for women’s rights continues”.
Source: 12ft