In a landmark case brought before an Australian federal court, the judge ruled in favour of trans woman Roxanne Tickle, who sued women-only app Giggle for Girls for gender discrimination after being banned from the platform.

Roxanne Tickle, a trans woman from New South Wales, Australia, was barred from using the app in 2021 after initially being allowed to join the platform. It required users to upload a picture of themselves which would be verified as female by KairosAI gender detection software and then by CEO Sall Grover.

Tickle had lived as a woman since 2017 and her birth certificate was changed to align with her gender and name in 2018. Moreover, she underwent gender-affirming surgery in 2019. Speaking in court about the case, she said: “Up until this instance, everybody has treated me as a woman.”

According to the ruling delivered on Friday, August 23, Federal Court Justice Robert Bromwich stated that the respondents had considered “sex” to mean the unchangeable sex assigned to a person at birth.

“These arguments failed because the view propounded by the respondents conflicted with a long history of cases decided by courts going back over 30 years. Those… cases established that on its ordinary meaning sex is changeable,” the judge found.

Justice Bromwich found that Roxanne Tickle wasn’t subjected to direct discrimination, explaining that evidence did not establish that she was barred from the app directly “by reason of her gender identity although it remains possible that this was the real but unproven reason”.

However, the judge upheld the claim of indirect discrimination, finding that the trans woman was excluded from the Giggle for Girls app “because she did not look sufficiently female”. As a result of the case, Tickle was awarded $10,000 plus costs.

In his written decision, Judge Bromwich also drew attention to the behaviour of Giggle for Girls CEO Sall Grover. Tickle had sought damages amounting to $200,000 due to such behaviour, claiming that Grover persistently misgendered her, causing constant anxiety and occasional suicidal thoughts.

The CEO told the court that she refused to address Tickle as “Ms” and that, even if a trans woman presented as female, held female identity documents and had gender affirmation surgery, she would still consider them a “biological male”.

In addition, Grover’s behaviour included laughing at a caricature of Tickle during the trial, which the judge commented on saying: “[the] explanation, that it was funny in the context of the courtroom, was obviously disingenuous. It was offensive and belittling and had no legitimate place in the respondents prosecuting their case.”

Following the verdict, Roxanne Tickle told reporters that the case had “stolen” three years of her life. “There is so much hate and bile cast on trans and gender diverse people simply because of who we are. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that not all people are like that.”

She added, “I’m pleased by the outcome of my case and I hope it is healing for trans and gender diverse people. The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination.

“I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and you can stand up for yourself. 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.”

This was the first case to address discrimination based on gender identity under Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act and it has sparked widespread debate in the country. Its outcome is likely to have wide-reaching implications under Australian law and is being watched around the world.