The landmark ruling by an Australian court in the case that raised the question: "what is a woman?"

A transgender woman in Australia has won a discrimination case against a female-only social media app after being denied access because she was perceived as a man.

The Federal Court found that although Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against, she was a victim of indirect discrimination, i.e. when a decision disadvantages a person with a particular attribute.

The court ordered the application to pay the plaintiff 10,000 Australian dollars (US$6,700) plus court costs.

It is a landmark ruling on gender identity in a case that raised the increasingly controversial question: “What is a woman?”

In 2021, Roxanne Tickle downloaded “Giggle for Girls”an app promoted as an online refuge where women could share their experiences in a safe space and men were not allowed access.

To gain access, she had to upload a selfie, which was evaluated favorably by gender recognition software designed to exclude men.

However, seven months after successfully joining the platform, His membership was revoked.

Tickle argued that she had a legal right to use services intended for women and had experienced discrimination because of her gender identity.

She sued the social media platform, as well as its CEO, Sall Grover, and requested compensation of 200,000 Australian dollars (US$135,700) for damagesclaiming that Grover’s “persistent gender confusion” had caused her to have “constant anxiety and occasional suicidal thoughts.”

“Grover’s public statements about me and this case have been distressing, demoralizing, embarrassing, exhausting and painful. This has led to people posting hateful comments about me online and indirectly inciting others to do the same,” Tickle said in an affidavit.

Giggle’s legal team, for its part, argued throughout the case that sex is a biological concept.

They acknowledge that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of sex, rather than gender identity.

They claim that denying them access to the application constituted a legal sexual discriminationThe app is designed to exclude men, and since its founder perceives Tickle as a man, they argue that denying him access was lawful.

However, Judge Robert Bromwich noted in his ruling Friday that case law has consistently held that Sex is “changeable and not necessarily binary”ultimately dismissing Giggle’s argument.

Tickle proclaimed that the ruling “shows that all women are protected from discrimination” and that she hoped the case would be “healing for trans and gender diverse people.”

Responding to the decision, Grover wrote on X: “Unfortunately, we got the verdict we expected. The fight for women’s rights continues.”

The case, known as “Tickle vs Giggle,” is The first case of alleged gender identity discrimination to reach federal court in Australiasetting a precedent for how one of the most contentious ideological debates—trans inclusion versus sex-based rights—can be addressed in the courts.

Tickle was born male, but changed gender and She has been living as a woman since 2017.

Testifying in court, she said: “Until now, everyone has treated me as a woman.”

“Every now and then they look at me with a frown and curiosity, which is quite disconcerting… but they let me get on with my business.”

Grover, for his part, does not believe that any human being has ever changed sex or can do so, which is the pillar of critical gender ideology.

When Tickle’s attorney, Georgina Costello KC, questioned Grover, he stated: “Even when a person born male is transformed into a woman through surgery, hormones, gets rid of facial hair, undergoes facial reconstruction, grows hair, wears makeup, wears women’s clothing, describes themselves as female, presents as female, uses female costumes, changes their birth certificate, they still do not accept that they are a woman?”

“No,” Grover replied, also refusing to address Tickle as “Mrs.”, stating that “he’s a biological male.”

The founder of “Giggle for Girls” declares himself a TERFan acronym that stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.”

TERFs’ views on gender identity are widely considered hostile towards trans people.

“A man who claims to be a woman is taking me to federal court because he wants to use an exclusive space for women that I created”, he posted on X.

She added: “There is no woman in the world who would have to take me to court to use this women-only space. It takes a man for this case to exist.”

She claims to have created her app “Giggle for Girls” in 2020 after receiving constant abuse from men on social media while working in Hollywood as a screenwriter.

He claimed that he “wanted to create a safe space, exclusive for womenaccessible”.

“It is a legal fiction that Tickle is a woman. His birth certificate has been altered from male to female, but he is a biological male and always will be. (…) We are defending the safety of women-only spaces, but also basic reality and truth, which the law should reflect.”

Grover has previously said he would appeal the court’s decision and fight the case all the way to the High Court of Australia.

The outcome of this case could sit a legal precedent in other countries on resolving conflicts between gender identity rights and sex-based rights.

Fundamental to understanding this is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN that is in practice an international bill of rights for women.

Giggle’s defence argued that Australia’s ratification of CEDAW obliges the state to protect women’s rights, including in single-sex spaces.

Thus, this Friday’s ruling in favor of Tickle will be important for the 189 countries in which CEDAW has been ratifiedfrom Brazil to India and South Africa.

When interpreting international treaties, national courts in each country often look to how others have done it.

Australia’s interpretation of the law in a case that received this level of media attention is therefore likely to have global repercussions: if, over time, more and more courts rule in favour of gender identity claims, the likelihood that other countries will follow suit increases.

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