She wasn't surprised by the ruling, writing "Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues."
The court determined that Tickle, in the case called Tickle v. Giggle, has been "indirectly discriminated against" in being disallowed from accessing Giggle. "The indirect discrimination cases succeeded because Ms Tickle was excluded from the use of the Giggle app because she did not look sufficiently female according to the respondents," said Justice Robert Bromwich.
He said that Giggle could not be an app for women only and had to accept men who identify as women, thought he attempted to differentiate discrimination by gender identity from discrimination based on sex. Tickle had sought $20,000, but Bromwich only awarded half of that, $10,000. Tickle had been blocked from the app in 2021 despite his birth certificate having been changed to reflect his gender identity. Tickle claimed that "Up until this instance, everybody has treated me as a woman."
Tickle had sought the excessive damages after claiming that Grover had been, essentially, too vocal about the case, and Tickle, on Twitter, later renamed X. In a clip posted to X, Tickle can be seen explaining the transformation from presenting as a man to presenting as a woman. On the Australian show Insight, Tickle was asked "Roxy, you're a transgender woman from regional New South Wales. You played hockey for 10 years when you were 16-years-old, but you stopped when you 26. Why?"
"Something didn't feel quite right," Tickle said, "and it has taken me decades longer to look back and try and dissect that and understand that I really didn't like being in the male changing rooms. I felt really uncomfortable there, I didn't like the smells or the sounds." He brought suit against Giggle in 2021, demanding access to the women's only online space.
Grover has spoken out extensively about the case and for women's rights and says that "female spaces are necessary." Her lawyer Birdie Nolan argued that Grover created the app to make a safe space for women online, away from dating apps and other social media sites. Nolan said that since Tickle is male, it is legal to exclude Tickle from the app under the Sex Discrimination Act.
Nolan argued to the judge that the court could not be in a position to determine a person's gender identity based on their "psychological state" or surgical status. Tickle, the court was told, "had undergone gender-affirming surgery and hormone treatments, identified as a woman with her family, friends and at work, and used women's change rooms and shops in women's clothing departments."
"This case is the 'what is a woman case,'" Nolan told the court.
Tickle was pleased by the ruling, saying it was "healing for trans and gender diverse people." Tickle is also still upset, however, that people have been so vocal against the lawsuit. "Mostly I get to just live my life and be who I am. But a small group of people have taken it upon themselves to declare that I am not who I know I am and they have set about making my life miserable," he said.
"This case and the unlawful and discriminatory exclusion from the Giggle app has stolen the last three years of my life. I have been targeted by hateful online commentary and degrading merchandise designed to ridicule and mock me," Tickle said. Indeed, Tickle's lawyer Georgina Costello claimed that Grover misgendered Tickle repeatedly to her nearly 100,000 followers on social media.
"The continued, deliberate misgendering of her cannot detract from the fact that she is a woman," Costello said.
"The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination," Tickle continued in the statement. "I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave, and you can stand up for yourself. I know that I can now get on with the rest of my life and have a coffee down the road with my friends, play hockey with my team and put this horribleness behind me," Tickle concluded.
The response from women who believe in biological reality and that women should have the right to sex-segregated spaces was, in a word, horrified but not susprised. "In Australia, women can no longer deny men access to any space they wish to enter," said writer AJ Kay. "Dimorphic sex does not exist. Attempts by women to enforce sex-based boundaries for privacy and safety are now considered criminal acts. This is dark."
In a detailed thread, one woman said the ruling meant "In other words, women cannot say no to men. Anyone with a gender identity is now a sacred caste. By law. Simply the fact that a woman said no to a man had the effect of discriminating against a man with a special gender identity."
And, she said "It’s spreading. In Afghanistan the Taliban just said that women cannot speak in public. Australia says no woman can gather without a man if he is wants to be there. Canada may be the same. In the US plenty of states are doing the same thing. Women’s sports at the Olympics have been ended."
