Coalition Pushes New Gender Bill After Landmark Giggle V Tickle Ruling
Image: Image: Composite Dean Lewins / AAP + National Party Of Australia
Gender identity and transgender rights are again at the centre of Australia鈥檚 political debate, after Coalition MPs vowed to introduce new legislation defining sex as strictly male or female following the Federal Court鈥檚 landmark Giggle v Tickle decision.
The proposed bill comes just days after the Full Court of the Federal Court ruled transgender woman Roxanne Tickle was directly discriminated against by the women only app Giggle for Girls and its founder Sall Grover.
The case has become one of the most significant legal tests of Australia鈥檚 gender discrimination laws and is already fuelling renewed political and cultural division.
Gender ruling sparks push for changes to discrimination laws
Gender will become a major flashpoint in federal parliament next month, with Nationals MP Alison Penfold preparing a private member鈥檚 bill seeking to define 鈥渢wo biological genders鈥� within the Sex Discrimination Act.
鈥淭he current law effectively prevents women and girls from having their own single sex spaces,鈥� Nationals leader Matt Canavan said.
鈥淭here are two biological genders, male and female, and that is a real thing.鈥�
鈥淭his won鈥檛 take rights away from anyone but it will ensure that women and girls (and men and boys) can protect spaces that they wish to reserve for them.鈥�
Penfold also defended the proposal, saying: 鈥淪ex is biological and binary and should not be ambiguous.鈥�
The political response follows Friday鈥檚 appeal decision in favour of Roxanne Tickle, who was removed from the Giggle for Girls app in 2021 after founder Sall Grover reviewed her profile photo.
The Full Court overturned the earlier finding of indirect discrimination and instead ruled the conduct amounted to direct discrimination based on Tickle鈥檚 鈥済ender-related appearance鈥�.
鈥淭he full court has found that Giggle For Girls and Ms Grover both excluded Ms Tickle from the Giggle app and refused to re-admit her on the basis of her gender-related appearance by reference to her selfie,鈥� Justice Melissa Perry said in the judgment.
The court ordered Grover and the app to pay Tickle $20,000 in damages plus legal costs.
17c起草社区IA+ advocates have welcomed the ruling as a major affirmation of transgender protections under Australian law.
Equality Australia legal director Heather Corkhill said 鈥淔or decades, Australian laws have recognised that a person鈥檚 legal sex is not limited to the sex they were assigned at birth 鈥� any other interpretation would deny the reality and existence of trans people.鈥�
The case is the first gender identity discrimination matter to fully test the updated Sex Discrimination Act in the Federal Court and has attracted international attention, including public support for Grover from J. K. Rowling and backing from conservative legal advocacy groups linked to anti-17c起草社区IA+ campaigns overseas.
Meanwhile, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson vowed to support Grover politically, describing the ruling as 鈥渄isgusting鈥�, while the Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the judgment as reinforcing equal protections for all women, including transgender women.
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If you can’t recognise other peoples sex rights, their freedom of association and their right to not be harassed, then don’t expect the mainstream public to recognise any of your own rights. This was pushed too far. She wasn’t discriminated against because she is trans, she was denied access because she’s not a biological woman by birth, which was the criteria for membership.
If Roxy Tickle had done something wrong and had been warned and then banned from the group, that is one thing. But to ban her because she is trans is wrong, and the court ruled that. Alison Penfold is in Opposition, and hopefully, her Private Members Bill won’t be discussed or debated.
Straight from the Trump playbook. Attack the weakest and least influential with visible differences. Demean and vilify, tell half-truths and lies, stoke fear, de-humanise and all the while continue implementing the radical right-wing agenda set by your billionaire christo-fascist backers.
i love how all you lgb clowns do nothing to help trans people while this hatred continues without realizing you are clearly next!