On Friday, a court in Australia ruled that removing a transgender person from a female-only social networking app constituted discrimination, according to a report from NBC News.
To recap, Townhall covered in April how Roxanne Tickle, a “transgender,” from New South Wales, Australia, sued the women-only platform Giggle for Girls after the company reportedly blocked his profile in 2021.
To be clear, Tickle is a man who thinks he’s a woman.
In a federal court, Tickle claimed that the app and its founder, Sall Grover, illegally discriminated against Tickle on the grounds of “gender identity.”
Now, Giggle for Girls will be punished for kicking Tickle off the app (via NBC):
The Federal Court, Australia’s second-highest, ordered Giggle for Girls to pay Tickle A$10,000 ($6,700) plus legal costs but declined to order the company to issue a written apology, which Tickle had sought.
“Tickle’s claim of direct gender identity discrimination fails, but her claim of indirect gender identity discrimination succeeds,” Judge Robert Bromwich said.
“This decision is a great win for transgender women in Australia,” Professor Paula Gerber at Monash University’s Faculty of Law told the outlet.
“This case sends a clear message to all Australians that it is unlawful to treat transgender women differently from cisgender women. It is not lawful to make decisions about whether a person is a woman based on how feminine they appear,” Gerber said.
Giggle for Girls was meant to be a platform for biological females. Reportedly, the platform used people’s sex as being the basis for being allowed to use the app.
Tickle reportedly underwent so-called “gender-affirming” surgeries to live as a woman.
“Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated,” Grover posted on X. “The fight for women’s rights continues.”
Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated.
— Sall Grover (@salltweets) August 22, 2024
The fight for women’s rights continues. 🙋♀️#TickleVGiggle