A trans woman from Australia won a lawsuit against the transgender-exclusive radical feminist (TERF) social app Giggle For Girls after she was banned from the app because she is a trans woman. The app was ordered to pay her 10,000 Australian dollars (about US$6,800) plus legal fees.
“I have found that Ms Tickle’s claim for direct discrimination on the grounds of gender identity fails, but her claim for indirect discrimination on the grounds of gender identity succeeds,” Justice Robert James Bromwich of the Federal Court of Australia wrote in a summary judgment. “I will also order the defendants to pay Ms Tickle $10,000 in compensation and to bear her costs, with costs relating to issues of constitutionality and interpretation of the law capped.”
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The lawsuit involved Roxanne Tickle, a trans woman who used Giggle in 2021 before she was banned. The app was marketed as being for women only and was developed by CEO Sall Grover, who describes herself as a prominent TERF activist.
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Giggle used facial recognition via gender detection software KairosAI to weed out those they considered “men.” Tickle had been passed through Giggle’s facial recognition algorithm and was classified by the app as a woman. She used the app for seven months. It wasn’t until September or early October of last year that she realized she had been banned from the app.
It was later revealed that Grover had manually banned Tickle from the app because she was not deemed sufficiently “feminine.” Judge Bromwich ruled that while Tickle was not directly discriminated against based on her gender identity, she was indirectly discriminated against based on her gender “because she did not look sufficiently feminine.”
“However, the same evidence supported the conclusion that indirect discrimination based on gender identity had occurred. The indirect discrimination case was successful because Ms Tickle was excluded from using the Giggle app because, in the respondents’ view, she did not look feminine enough,” Bromwich said.
“This finding applies only to Ms Tickle’s exclusion from the Giggle app. It does not apply to her non-reinstatement as there is no evidence of this, or even of a positive decision being made, to prohibit her from being reinstated on the Giggle app.”
Tickle was reportedly subjected to massive harassment and threats due to the controversy surrounding the app, which drove her to suicide. She initially demanded $200,000 in damages, including for the incorrect gender statement.
During the court battle, Grover allegedly laughed at an offensive caricature of Tickle that was brought up. This was used as further evidence against Grover that she was discriminating against her, and she was officially reprimanded for the misconduct. She also openly told the court that she would not gender Tickle correctly.
Grover commented on the court case on social media: “Unfortunately, we got the verdict we expected. The fight for women’s rights continues. #TickleVGiggle”
Unfortunately, we got the verdict we expected.
The fight for women’s rights continues. 🙋♀️#TickleVGiggle
Tickle said in a statement to the court: “I am pleased with the outcome of my case and hope it is healing for trans and gender diverse people. The verdict shows that all women are protected from discrimination.”
“I brought my case to show transgender people that you can be brave and stand up for yourself. I can now move on with the rest of my life, have coffee with my friends, play hockey with my team and put this horror behind me.”
