One of the better named legal cases to ever have come before a court , Roxanne Tickle v. Giggle for Girls (“Tickle v. Giggle”), is no laughing matter for the women of Australia. The landmark gender-versus-sex case is underway where a man who identifies as a woman has gone to court against a female-only social networking app and its founder and CEO after being barred from the platform.
In the case, which opened today, April 9, before the Federal Court of Australia, the question of whether women should be forced to open female-only spaces to men is front and centre. Tickle, a man who identifies as a woman, is claiming to have been discriminated against in being banned from the female-only social networking app, ‘Giggle for Girls’.
Tickle is claiming that, being “legally permitted to identify as female” and having had his birth certificate updated to represent him as such, he should be allowed entry into both physical and digital female-only spaces.
He’s seeking damages, a written apology and complete access to the platform.
Meanwhile, the defence is arguing against the suggestion that Tickle was discriminated against on the basis of gender identity, arguing instead that he was denied access to the app on the basis of sex.
On Tuesday, the court was told that Tickle has lived as a woman since 2017, has had ‘gender affirmation’ surgery, possesses a birth certificate edited to state that his gender is female and “feels in her mind that psychologically she is a woman”.
Giving evidence late on Tuesday afternoon, Tickle clarified what living as a female meant by describing his taking of hormones to alter his body and undergoing surgical and social transitions.
He reiterated the changes to his government documents that indicate that his is now female and said that he has spent time and money on his wardrobe and removing facial hair, while using female changing rooms and playing on a female hockey team.
Meanwhile, Giggle’s barrister Bridie Nolan said that the focus must be on biological sex.
“Sex is discriminatory, it always has been and always will be … biological sex must prevail,” she said.
The case is asking the court to adjudicate between gender identity claims on the one hand and sex-based women’s rights, which is prompting the framing of the case as one tasked with deciding, ‘What is a woman?’
As such, the outcome of the case could set a legal precedent for the resolution of conflicts between gender identity claims and sex-based rights, where they arise.
Founder and CEO of Giggle, Sall Grover said that for decades, “women’s movements have fought for the right to have female spaces in society. Yet today, the clock is being wound back”.
“I designed my app to give women their own space to network. It is a legal fiction that Tickle is a woman. His birth certificate has been altered from male to female, but he is a biological man, and always will be. A woman’s-only app isn’t about discrimination. It’s about freedom of speech, belief and association,” she said.
“We are taking a stand for the safety of all women’s only spaces, but also for basic reality and truth, which the law should reflect.”
The defence is arguing that Australia’s ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) obliges the Australian government to protect women’s rights, including the right to female-only spaces. They further argue that expanding the legal definition of “women” to include men contradicts this key international treaty.
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act (1984) considers differentiations on the basis of sex to be lawful when it comes to supporting women’s equality.
However, the state amended the Act in 2013 to make it unlawful to discriminate against persons on the basis of “gender identity”, while also removing the biologically-based definitions of “woman” and “man”.
The defence in Tickle v. Giggle has taken issue with this, and so is arguing that the Australian government acted unconstitutionally in its amendment of the Sex Discrimination Act to legislate for “gender identity” as a protected characteristic. It’s arguing that this is against the purpose for which the act was designed.
The case’s outcome will be of relevance to all countries that have ratified CEDAW, of which Ireland is one, with advocates for sex-based women’s rights arguing that a win for Giggle could potentially help safeguard female-only spaces around the world.
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I find it suspicious that a man would be so desperate to access to female only spaces, the man hasn’t clearly stated that he has made a eunuch of himself and may still possess a weaponized penis.
I would be very happy to lock him up in a mental institution so that every normal person can live a life free from his deranged behaviour.
He said he wanted to use women’s changing rooms beacuse the men’s ones smelled so bad.
If you see the video of the australian talk show where he came out with this, you’ll realise the the source of the malodour in the mens’ was most likely Mr. Tackle (sic) himself.
Does he not realise it will just accompany him into the ladies ?
A snippet here, can’t find the original,show, sadly
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9GQ0CR6I0aU&pp=ygUfUm94eSB0aWNrbGUgYXVzdHJhbGlhIHRhbGsgc2hvdw%3D%3D
The ladies should get together and box his ears. He wont be so keen on the ladies toilets then. Pervert.
To think that children are dying of starvation and this kind of nonsense, no doubt costing thousands upon thousands, is going on. He was born a man, is now a man and will always be a man regardless of what he calls himself or thinks he is. End of
How can spending time and money on his wardrobe and playing on a women’s hockey team further his chances of becoming a woman? Well, that’s what Tickle thinks and it’s part of his argument in his case. A 20 page declaration now from the Vatican – Dignitas Infinita, has put gender affirmirming surgery, surrogacy and abortion on a par with war. A backlash from the usual mavericks, Fr. Ray Donovan and of course, We are Church Ireland. A FG figure has traduced the Church on surrogacy, failing to view it objectively as a rent a womb industry, that exploits and uses women. Varadkar has put on his top coat and gone out like the Tavistock Clinic. Only a matter of time until woke McEntee goes too, getting rid of her now would look like caving in to the ‘far right’, aka those with common sense. How dare this lame duck, who is nearing the end, create a law that opposes my religion, to give superiority to a fringe cult, that is government financed, to promote those who have the same beliefs as Tickle. The FG party has crumbled, many leaving, which shows they cannot support the lunacy of McEntee’s hate law. The coalition has inflicted mass immigration demographic change on us. Lobby your politician to oppose the new migrant pact. Varadkar said you can’t veto who lives beside you, meaning he could. A dictator. Vote this govt out.
Sorry for the repeat post (I’ve just put this elsewhere)
In case anyone you know would like to email the thirteen Irish MEPs ahead of the vote in the e.u. parliament tomorrow
We’ve even got their names below. Just add the @europarl.europa.eu
after the name. Here’s a letter template if anyone wants to use it or adapt it, below.
maria.walsh
mick.wallace
grace.osullivan
colm.markey
chris.macmanus
sean.kelly
billy.kelleher
lukeming.flanagan
frances.fitzgerald
clare.daly
ciaran.cuffe
deirdre.clune
barry.andrews
Dear X.
Tomorrow you will be asked to vote on the E.U.’s Migration-Sharing Pact.
Ireland received a quarter of a million migrants in 2022, and between two-thirds and three quarters of that figure in 2023.
Currently, over one-fifth of those present in Ireland are from outside the State.
Consistent polling this year has shown that between three quarters and eighty percent of Irish people believe we have taken in too many migrants.
The european commission’s policy is, as a whole, to increase the net migration into the block.
This pact is part of this.
It will increae the flow of migrants.
We do not want them.
There are already far too many, and this is our land. The current rate of migration will inevitably overturn our society.
We need to establish a cap on migration set by the Irish people as a percentage proportional to us, the existing, Irish people.
We utterly reject the intentions of the european commission, to attempt to force a quota of migrants who turn up at other people’s borders on Ireland.
These matters belong as our own sovereign competence.
I would like to remind you that we, the people of Ireland, rejected the Lisbon Treaty when it was first put to us, and only agreed to it in the second run of the Referendum when an Opt-Out for Ireland from the E.U.’s internal migration policies was assured.
If you vote in favour of this pact, you will be betraying your constituents, the Irish electorate.
It is this electorate that you are supposed to be serving, not the political grouping in the european parliament which you have joined, nor the european commission nor U. Van der Leyen.
We are demanding that you vote against this pact.
We will be recording how you vote and distributing it in your constituencies.
If you support it, we will endeavour to see that you (and the party candidates in the case of those retiring) lose your seat in the june elections.
Signed
Etc.
Done, many thanks.
Done, thanks!
They will all be gone soon Mary. Traitorous scum, the lot of them.
Thanks for great journalism.
Its very simple, if the kakistocracy dont know what a woman is then they should not be in a position of power to be producing legislation on it. We the people know what a woman is and its what we the people say goes, not what they say goes. At least 75pc of the population knows what a woman is so the only solution in my view is to elect people who know what a woman is and it is a question that should be asked when they call on every door step while recording them on video before uploading it to any social media source imaginable. We already know who to vote out but its also a time to filter who not to vote in who is not currently elected. Ask them waht a woman is, ask them waht a durable relationship is, ask them do they support illegals turning up at the border with no documents. They want the job so interview them on camera and see what they say, then upload the video online to show other people what they say so they make the correct choice.
The utter insanity of this is beyond belief. How can this case even be entertained? Male and Female He created them……end of story.
Would not hold my breath waiting for a court to decide in her favour. If legislators have already made it law that someone can self-identify as another sex, on what grounds would a court make a decision to the contrary.
The Irish have self id too. It was snuck in amongst other legislation. That’s why there are men in girls teams here.
There was a media blackout on this, now the Ozzie’s are misreporting it. It was the Oz government who gave that MAN 50k to take her to court. They booted her expert witness today with no warning. This whole thing is tilted for that male pervert. If he wins no woman’s space is safe from men.
>It was the Oz government who gave that MAN 50k to take her to court.
I would not be surprised — there is usually an NGO or similar outfit with money behind this sort of lawsuit; I mean, individual members of the public do not generally have the money to engage lawyers and push this kind of lawsuit — thanks for the heads up.
If you read the Court’s ruling (https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca0553), scroll down a bit and under heading ‘REASONS FOR JUDGMENT’ section #5 it states “On 21 December 2022, the applicant was given an indemnity against an adverse costs order of up to $50,000 by a specialist non-profit litigation funder known as the Grata Fund”. So it’s not actually the Government. You can google Grata Fund to check them out. I’m in OZ and cannot believe this is happening. We have a saying here that if something crazy is happening in the USA we say “Only in America”, now I guess the whole world is saying “Only in Australia”.
I’m so sick of this kind of nonsense — this is where incremental tolerance leads: first you are asked to tolerate ‘this’, then later ‘that’, because after all, ‘that’ is not so much worse than ‘this’, is it? — pretty soon you are asked to tolerate the intolerable, and humor all kinds of mentally ill freaks who’ve been given the signal that it’s their ‘right’ to lead society around by the nose so their little fetishes will be accommodated.
This is where a little old-fashioned male corrective behavior is called for, as in a case currently generating some news in the US, where a fitness chain called Planet Fitness allows men to use the women’s locker room, all they have to do is say they ‘identify’ as female — any such person ought to have the you know what kicked out of him, then be thrown out into the parking lot along with all of his stuff, and told to not come back — end of problem.
and yet in the 1950’s they thought by 2020 we would all be technologically advanced and driving cars on the moon. That was the high confidence of the generation over 70 years ago thought of us today….
nah… we cant even describe a woman now . I mean , the apes 200,000 years ago could ….
Reminds me of the Bee Gees music hit, “More than a woman to me”.
between this and the case of amputated fingers I am wondering if gript is is a parody or troll news site now…like you know more interesting stuff is afoot in the world?
Perhaps you could try Newstalk. Their stuff is always interesting… full of drama (they write it themselves!)
Are you transgender?
I suspect that you are not a woman, other wise you wouldn’t be saying there is more interesting stuff afoot in the world!