The founder of an Australian-based-women-only app Giggle for Girls, Sall Grover has been sued for denying service to a trans woman.
Grover’s decision to restrict her app to “cisgender” women – women whose birth sex aligns with their gender identity – has not only put her at the centre of the culture war over gender but in the legal loggerheads as well.
Roxanne Tickle, who has undergone vaginal and labial surgery and changed her sex to female on her birth certificate, joined the app in 2021 after her application was accepted by gender recognition software designed to screen out men.
However, Tickle’s account was restricted about six months later after manual screening.
Having identified as a woman, Tickle argues that she is legally entitled to use services meant for women and has been discriminated against on the basis of gender Identity.
Tickle is suing Grover under Australia’s Anti-Discrimination Act, relying on a 2013 amendment that added gender identity to the list of protected categories.
In defence, Grover said she did not think twice when she blocked Tickle from using the app.
As far as Grover is concerned, “women-only” spaces should not include trans women like Tickle.
Grover created Giggle in 2020 upon returning to Australia after working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, where she says persistent social media abuse by men landed her in therapy.
“I wanted to create a safe, women-only space in the palm of your hand,” Grover who spent 500,000 Australian dollars ($320,800) on building the site, said.
After hearing several days of arguments by the two sides at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney earlier this month, a judge is expected to hand down his decision in three to six months.
While many corporations have expressed their support for trans rights amid growing public acceptance of LGBTQ people in recent years, businesses have also faced blowback for associating themselves with the issue.
Last year, Bud Light suffered a plunge in sales after a conservative backlash to a brief partnership with trans activist and TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Olekanma Favour is a resourceful, self-motivated, and result-driven writer.
