Australia court doubles payout for trans woman in landmark discrimination case
It comes almost two years after Roxanne Tickle successfully sued Sall Grover, founder of the Giggle for Girls app, for blocking her account on the grounds of gender identity.Grover lodged an appeal against that verdict, but on Friday, the Federal Court dismissed it and further found that Tickle was directly - rather than indirectly - discriminated against by Grover.Tickle, a biological male who identifies as a woman, was also awarded compensation of AU$20,000 ($14,000; £11,000), double the original amount.Giggle's legal team argued throughout the original case that sex is a biological concept. They freely conceded that Tickle was discriminated against, but on the grounds of sex, rather than gender identity.Known as "Tickle vs Giggle", the years-long dispute is the first time a case of alleged gender identity discrimination has been heard by the Federal Court in Australia.During the original case, the court heard that Grover had removed Tickle from the app after spotting "male facial features" on Tickle's profile photo.Grover told the court that when she looked at Tickle's profile picture, she decided Tickle was not a woman and removed the account, saying that the process was "the same as removing all males"."I would have seen the photo and just gone, 'male', and blocked," Grover told the court during the initial hearing.Under the country's Sex Discrimination Act, it is illegal for providers of goods or services to discriminate against another person on the ground of a person's gender identity.In Friday's Federal Court judgement, the full court found that Grover had engaged in unlawful direct discrimination, saying she had treated Tickle "who is a transgender woman, less favourably than a person designated female at birth seeking access to the Giggle App".The three judges also found that the original judge had erred by not deeming Tickle's removal from the app based on Grover's "first visual review" of the profile picture as direct discrimination.The earlier ruling found that Grover had indirectly discriminated against Tickle.Tickle downloaded the app in 2021 and passed the registration process which included a selfie, and used the app for about half a year before being blocked.Grover founded the Giggle for Girls app in 2020 in response to online abuse by men during her time as a screenwriter in Hollywood."I wanted to create a safe, women-only space in the palm of your hand," she said earlier.Shortly after Friday's ruling, Grover said she intended to appeal the decision in the High Court.Update: This article has been amended to make clear Roxanne Tickle is a biological male who identifies as a woman.
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