Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Transgender woman wins landmark case against ‘female-only’ app
ABC NEWS (Australia)
Follow
8/23/2024
Let's get more now on transgender woman Roxanne Tickle's landmark court win. Human rights law expert Paula Gerber says the decision will fill the trans community with joy.
Category
📺
TV
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
Sally Grover, the CEO of Giggle for Girls app, which is an app designed for women only,
00:10
she excluded Roxanne Tickle from being on the platform because she looked at a photo
00:15
of Roxanne and determined that Roxanne Tickle was a man, that men were not allowed in the
00:21
online space of Giggle for Girls and therefore she was removed from the site that she'd been
00:27
part of for seven months.
00:28
Okay, and so then what did the judge find today?
00:32
The judge found that that amounted to discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act, that Roxanne
00:38
Tickle was a woman, her sex was a woman, her gender identity was a woman and that Sally
00:44
Grover had violated the Sex Discrimination Act by looking at a photo and making a determination
00:52
that Roxanne Tickle was not feminine enough to be part of the Giggle for Girls app.
00:57
Much of the proceedings centred around what constitutes a woman under Australian law
01:03
and whether someone's sex can be changed.
01:06
What did it find in that area?
01:09
It found that sex is not immutable, that sex can be changed, that when a child is born
01:14
a doctor makes a presumption about what their sex is based on what they see before them
01:20
and that is then designated as their sex on their birth certificate, but that is not fixed
01:25
in time, that can be changed and Roxanne Tickle in 2017 changed her sex on her birth certificate
01:32
a year after undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
01:35
So according to the law and according to most of society, Roxanne Tickle's sex is female,
01:41
she is a woman.
01:42
Now this has been closely watched by many areas of society, particularly the trans cohort
01:50
of society beyond this case and Roxanne Tickle.
01:53
Well firstly I want to ask you what are the impacts for transgender women, the outcome
01:58
of this case?
02:00
Well this is a landmark decision that will fill the trans community with great joy because
02:05
the court has unequivocally said that you cannot discriminate against someone on the
02:12
basis of their gender identity, that you cannot look at a photo and say oh I don't accept
02:17
that you're a woman, I'm going to exclude you from a woman only space.
02:20
So it sends a clear message to society that they must respect the rights of trans women,
02:25
that they are women and they enjoy equality and respect.
02:30
So beyond this case, beyond the story of Roxanne Tickle here, where will the ramifications
02:36
extend?
02:38
Well the law is decided on the facts of this case, so there will be ramifications, but
02:45
how far they go and into what areas exactly we don't know, but what we do know is we've
02:49
got a clear ruling from the court that sex can be changed and that you cannot discriminate
02:55
against someone on the basis of gender identity.
02:57
Now someone else may decide down the track that they're going to discriminate against
03:02
a trans woman or a trans man and that will have to be challenged in court again.
03:07
But this case sets a precedent that will be very hard to overcome, unless of course it
03:12
is appealed.
03:13
Yeah, and do you expect there to be an appeal?
03:16
Well Sally Grover's immediate response was the fight for women's rights continues.
03:22
So how that is to be interpreted we don't know.
03:25
Perhaps she's intending to appeal, perhaps she's intending to just contest the right
03:29
of trans women to be recognised as women in other spaces.
03:33
So as a result of this case, can the trans community feel confident that the Sex Discrimination
03:38
Act covers them entirely?
03:41
We know that there were changes to that Act just a little over a decade ago.
03:45
That's right, there's a long history of discrimination against transgender people and it was only
03:50
in 2013 that the Sex Discrimination Act was amended to unequivocally state that you cannot
03:57
discriminate against someone on the basis of their gender identity.
04:00
So it's been 11 years since those legislative changes were introduced and this is the first
04:06
time it's been tested in court and obviously successfully as far as the trans community
04:10
is concerned.
04:11
So tell me this and you might not be able to answer it, if an app was say to market
04:16
itself as being open to cisgender women and it didn't allow trans women on, would that
04:24
be against the law?
04:26
That would absolutely be a violation of the Sex Discrimination Act.
04:30
You can't differentiate between women based on their gender identity.
04:34
You can't preference cisgender women to the exclusion of transgender women.
Recommended
1:44
|
Up next
Judgement to exclude trans woman from social media app constituted gender-identity discrimination
ABC NEWS (Australia)
8/23/2024
3:55
Transgender women are 'NOT women', Debbie Hayton claims
GB News
4/19/2025
1:48
Transgender women are not 'women' under equalities law, Supreme Court judges rule
Evening Standard
4/16/2025
5:08
Meet India’s 10 Iconic Transgender Achievers Who Scripted History
The Quint
11/20/2019
0:41
Legal Battles Erupt Over Trans IDs
Benzinga
7/13/2023
4:43
Trans advisor ‘disappointed’ in cycling ban
ODN
5/26/2023
1:10
Trans Women and Their Fight for Equality
FYI News
3/16/2018
0:39
Transgender doctor is ‘chromosomally male’, consultant tells tribunal
Evening Standard
7/29/2025
0:56
Trans rights groups lead ’emergency’ protest over gender court ruling
Evening Standard
4/19/2025
4:59
WATCH: Miriam Cates furious as trans athlete claims 'trans women are women'
GB News
4/27/2025
3:15
Transgender People Are 4x More Likely To Experience Violent Crime Than Cisgender People - 5 Cases To Know
ID | Investigation Discovery
6/18/2021
3:02
“I’m a Trans Man but I Experienced More Discrimination as a Woman - I’ve Gained Privilege”
Real Fix
8/16/2023
3:12
Rights activists speak out after US Supreme Court allows transgender youth care ban to stand
The Manila Times
6/19/2025
6:21
Fencer Stephanie Turner Explains Why She Refused To Compete Against Transgender Competitor
Forbes Breaking News
5/7/2025
1:31
Transgender Inmate Files Lawsuit Against Prison After Allegedly Being Denied Hormone Therapy
Tribune Broadcasting
7/11/2017
1:15
Thousands gather for emergency protest after gender ruling
ODN
4/19/2025
4:34
Pakistan: Why transgender persons' rights are not a charity
DW (English)
10/10/2022
7:15
Gender is a 'social construct' and 'cannot be changed', Dr Renee Hoenderkamp claims
GB News
4/27/2025
0:53
Big Brother’s first transgender winner says she would refuse hospital treatment in male ward after Supreme Court ruling
The Independent
4/27/2025
17:26
UK Supreme Court Rules Woman Defined As 'Biological Woman'—Not Including Trans Women
Forbes Breaking News
4/16/2025
2:39
Supreme Court Upholds Gender-Affirming-Care Ban. Here’s What to Know
TIME
6/18/2025
1:46
The transgender women of Kochi Metro
Zinc
2/2/2018
2:23
Family of transgender woman call for coronial inquest
ABC NEWS (Australia)
10/24/2023
7:10
‘I’m The Scary Transgender Person The Media Warned You About’ | MY TRANS LIFE
Truly
7/27/2017
2:11
Senior lawyer Swati Baruah challenged Transgender (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 in SC
Deccan Herald
1/29/2020