The founder of a women-only app who was found guilty of discriminating against a transgender woman is to launch a costly appeal in Australia’s High Court.
Roxanne Tickle, 54, was awarded $10,000 in damages on Friday after the Federal Court found she had been subjected to unlawful discrimination.
Sall Grover, the founder of the Giggle for Girls app, was ordered to pay Ms Tickle $10,000 in damages and legal fees.
Although Ms Tickle, who transitioned in 2017, is listed as female on her birth certificate, the app’s founder, Sall Grover, argued that Ms Tickle did not meet the platform’s single-sex entry requirements because she is biologically male.
Judge Robert Bromwich found that Giggle for Girls had “indirectly discriminated” against Tickle when it banned her from using the app in September 2021.
Ms Grover has now warned the legal saga is far from over as she announced plans to raise more than half a million dollars to pursue an appeal in the High Court.
“Since I received a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging discrimination on the basis of gender identity, I always knew the case had the potential to go to the High Court,” she told Sky News host Andrew Bolt on Monday.
‘It cost the Federal Court $500,000 to defend our claim that men cannot be women, and for the Supreme Court it could cost between $500,000 and $800,000.
Sall Grover, the founder of the Giggle for Girls app, has been ordered to pay Ms Tickle $10,000 in damages and legal fees (pictured is Grover)
Transgender woman Roxanne Tickle, 54, was awarded $10,000 in damages on Friday after the Federal Court found she had been subjected to unlawful discrimination.
‘It should be noted that if lawmakers actually did their job and ensured that the law protected everyone, they could fix this for free within a week.
“Instead, we will take the case to the High Court and fight to ensure that women have rights and to ensure that no Australian is forced to believe the gender ideology nonsense that holds that men can be women and women can be men. Obviously, that is not true.”
Ms Grover said she would rely on donations from strangers to get her appeal approved and had started an online crowdfunding campaign.
The executive director said that while she respected freedom of belief, the law should not interfere with a person’s “subjective identity”.
“He has every right to think what he wants about himself, that should be covered by freedom of belief. But to legislate that… everyone else has to believe it, because that’s basically what’s happening,” he said.
“Everyone can think what they want, they can have the identity they want, but the moment you make others believe it, that’s where the conflict arises.
“It was never really controversial until men started claiming the title of women in spaces reserved for women.”
The $10,000 compensation amount is only a small portion of the $200,000 Ms. Tickle had requested, half of which was based on aggravated damages.
The latter was based on an online campaign allegedly carried out against her by Ms Grover primarily on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Roxanne Tickle is pictured leaving Federal Court on Friday after winning her case.
Ms Grover argued that Ms Tickle (pictured) did not meet the requirements for entry to the single-sex platform because she is biologically male.
Following the decision, Grover wrote on X: “Unfortunately, we received the verdict we expected. The fight for women’s rights continues.”
Following her victory, Ms Tickle said she was pleased with the result and hoped it would be “healing for trans and gender diverse people”.
“Most of the time I’m just living my life and being who I am, but a small group of people have taken the liberty of declaring that I am not who I know I am and have set out to make my life miserable,” Tickle said in a statement.
‘This case and the illegal and discriminatory exclusion from the Giggle app have robbed me of the last three years of my life.
‘I have been the subject of hateful online comments and degrading material designed to ridicule and mock me.
‘The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination. I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and stand up for yourself.
“I know I can now move on with the rest of my life, have a coffee on the street with my friends, play hockey with my team and put this atrocity behind me.”
Ms Grover said she would rely on donations from strangers to get her appeal approved and had started an online crowdfunding campaign.