Judge hands transgender woman win against female-only app in landmark case

A judge in Australia ruled Friday that the owner of a female-only social networking platform discriminated against a transgender woman by removing her from the app because she was born a male.

Reuters reported that Roxanne Tickle sued the Australian app Giggle for Girls, as well as its founder, Sally Grover, for unlawful gender identity discrimination in its services.

The suit claimed Grover removed Tickle’s account from the platform after she saw her photo and "considered her to be male."

In a landmark decision on gender identity in Australia, the Federal Court — considered to be the country’s second-highest court — ordered Giggle for Girls to pay Tickle 10,000 Australian dollars ($6,700 U.S.) plus legal costs.

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Judge Robert Bromwich, who oversaw the trial, did not order Giggle for Girls to issue a written apology, which Tickle had sought.

"Tickle's claim of direct gender identity discrimination fails, but her claim of indirect gender identity discrimination succeeds," Bromwich said.

This is the first time the Australian Federal Court has made a ruling on gender identity discrimination since the Sex Discrimination Act was modified in 2013.

Professor Paula Gerber of Monash University’s Faculty of Law said the court’s decision was "a great win for transgender women in Australia."

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"This case sends a clear message to all Australians that it is unlawful to treat transgender women differently from cisgender women. It is not lawful to make decisions about whether a person is a woman based on how feminine they appear," she said.

The platform Giggle