Transgender woman wins groundbreaking 'what is a woman' case after she was kicked off a female-only app in Australia

By CAMERON CARPENTER, DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA Published: 05:15, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 05:29, 15 May 2026 Banning a transgender woman from a female-only app constituted discrimination, a court has found in a landmark gender identity case. The Federal Court on Friday handed down its judgment in an appeal by Sall Grover against a decision by Justice Robert Bromwich, who found she unlawfully discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle after rejecting her from the female-only Giggle app because she appeared to be a man. The landmark judgment found Ms Tickle was unlawfully discriminated against when she was removed from the women-only app because she is transgender.  The court found the conduct amounted to 'direct discrimination' under Australia's Sex Discrimination Act. 'The Full Court has found that Giggle and Ms Grover both excluded Ms Tickle from the Giggle app and refused to readmit her on the basis of her gender-related appearance by reference to her selfie, and that this amounted to direct discrimination by reference to a characteristic that pertains to people of Ms Tickle's gender identity as a transgender woman,' Justice Melissa Perry said, delivering the decision. The landmark finding could also have implications for other female-only spaces and defines the meaning of 'man' and 'woman' in Australian law. Roxanne Tickle has won the landmark 'what is a woman case' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.