Roxanne Tickle, a trans woman from Australia, has won a discrimination case after she was banned from a women-only social media platform.
A court found that Tickle had been discriminated against and ordered the owner of the social media app, Giggle for Girls, to pay $10,000 Australian dollars to Tickle, as well as costs.
The platform had been set up to allow women to interact online without the presence of men. Users had to upload a selfie which used gender recognition software to filter out people who weren’t women.
Tickle, who joined the app, but was kicked off seven months later, said that as someone who identifies as a woman, she was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity. Giggle for Girls argued that Tickle had been discriminated against, but on the basis of the fact that she is male, not because of her gender identity.
“I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and you can stand up for yourself.”
However, Justice Robert Bromwich said that Australian case law had found that sex is “changeable and not necessarily binary”.
Tickle said the’s decision showed transgender people could stand up for themselves.
“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,” she said outside court.
“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.”
