Protect our spaces from transgender women, lesbian group tells court
Female-only spaces for biological women must be protected by law because lesbians face unwanted pressure to have sex with trans women, says group supporting Giggle app founder Sall Grover.
Female-only spaces for biological women must be protected by law, in part because lesbians are now regularly being pressured to have sex with trans women and face social isolation if they don’t comply, according to a lesbian group that will appear in the Federal Court in support of Giggle app founder Sall Grover.
In a rare move, the court has granted the Melbourne-based Lesbian Action Group “intervener” status in Ms Grover’s appeal against the ruling last year that she unlawfully discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle by rejecting her from the networking app because she was a biological man.
The Lesbian Action Group argues that biological women have a right under the Sex Discrimination Act to their own safe spaces, stating in a submission obtained by The Australian that “it is now commonplace for lesbians to be pressured into having sex with transwomen, and to face risk of social isolation if they do not agree with that very concept.”
The intervention pits the long-established lesbian group not just against Tickle but against Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody who has also been granted amicus curiae (friend of the court) status in the case.
The commissioner says she is simply “seeking to assist the court by providing submissions about the meaning, scope and validity of relevant provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act and that she “has not made submissions about whether Ms Tickle was in fact discriminated against”.
However, the commissioner’s position largely mirrored Ms Tickle’s submissions in the case last year that sex is “changeable” and non-binary, and Dr Cody publicly welcomed judge Robert Bromwich’s decision in favour of Ms Tickle.
“We are pleased this case has recognised that every individual, regardless of their gender identity, deserves equal and fair treatment under the law,” Dr Cody said after the ruling.
The Australian Human Rights Commission estimates it will have spent about $35,000 briefing barristers to represent the Sex Discrimination Commissioner by the end of the current appeal.
The Lesbian Action Group was granted amicus status because it has an interest in the outcome of the case after seeking an exemption from the Sex Discrimination Act in 2023 to hold regular “lesbians born female only” social events.
“We have witnessed the demise of our culture and lesbian space since the early 1990s … in part because of the rise of mainstream LGBTIQ+ and also because of diversity and inclusion laws which currently make it illegal for lesbians to hold public female-only functions without applying for an exemption with the Human Rights Commission,” the group said.
The AHRC rejected the exemption, finding that although it would be legal for the Lesbian Action Group to ban men and heterosexual women, it could not discriminate against transgender lesbian women.
The group lost an appeal in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal but a challenge in the Federal Court has been stayed pending the outcome of the Giggle v Tickle appeal.
The group argues in its submission that undermining the sex-based protections of the Sex Discrimination Act “denies autonomy, dignity and safety” to lesbians.
There are “dangers in a male capable, or giving the appearance of being capable, of procreation being classified by the law as a female, despite the best intentions of gender ideology”, says the submission, prepared by Melbourne barristers Leigh Howard and Megan Blake.
“It is the lived experience of lesbians to be confronted by autogynephilic men (those who become sexually aroused by the idea of themselves as women) seeking lesbian attention, as a means of generating sexual gratification for themselves.
“It is now commonplace for lesbians to be pressured into having sex with transwomen, and to face risk of social isolation if they do not agree with that very concept. This is unacceptable.
“The appeal must proceed on the basis that the Giggle app is intended to be used by women (members of the female sex) to the exclusion of Ms Tickle (a member of the male sex).
“Construing the Sex Discrimination Act in this way properly accommodates the needs of members of the female sex, and does not diminish any protection afforded to Ms Tickle and the broader transgender community by the act.
“This community, like members of the female sex, can establish their own special measures.”
The conclusion that a biological man who identifies as a woman is a “woman” under the act has “innumerable unintended consequences”, the group’s submission claims.
Among them: that biological boys must be admitted into all-girl schools; that biological men must be admitted into domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centres; that intimate body searches of women can be performed by biological men; and that biological boys are to reside in the girls’ dormitory at school.
“Each of these propositions varies in impossibility, irrationality or unreasonableness. None of them can be said to be the product of a reasonable interpretation of the words of the Sex Discrimination Act.
“The chain of reasoning relied upon by the trial judge is wrong, at every turn … there is no single, uniform meaning of the word ‘woman’ that encompasses a transwoman.”
Ms Grover’s appeal team will claim Justice Bromwich failed to consider the broader context of the Sex Discrimination Act, arguing the app’s female-only policy was a special measure intended to address the unique disadvantages faced by women in digital spaces, and thus should not be considered discriminatory.
In a cross appeal, Ms Tickle argues there was no evidence that women experienced “persistent sex-based disadvantage in digital environments”. She wants Ms Grover to pay her at least $40,000 because the female-only platform creator laughed in court when shown a caricature of Ms Tickle during cross-examination in the hearing last year.
The appeal and cross-appeal will be heard over four days from August 4 in the Full Court of the Federal Court, before judges Melissa Perry, Geoffrey Kennett and Wendy Abraham.
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