The woman at the centre of Australia’s landmark “what is a woman” sex discrimination case says she plans to leave the country after the High Court rejected her final attempt to challenge the ruling.
Sall Grover, founder of the female-only networking platform Giggle for Girls, had sought to overturn a decision that found she unlawfully discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle by removing her from the app in 2021.
In May, the Federal Court dismissed Ms Grover’s appeal and increased the damages payable to Ms Tickle to $20,000. Ms Grover was also ordered to cover Ms Tickle’s legal costs, which could reach as much as $100,000.
Ms Grover then took the matter to the High Court of Australia, but on Thursday the court refused her application for special leave to appeal and ordered that costs be awarded to Ms Tickle.
Acknowledging that she had exhausted all remaining legal options, Ms Grover said she now intends to move overseas and relaunch or continue the business outside Australia.
‘I want to leave Australia because I will never forgive the government and I have no respect for the judiciary,’ Ms Grover told the Daily Mail on Friday. ‘I won’t live under an authoritarian nonsense ideology.
‘But I am lucky that I have the potential to leave. The girls in school with boys in their bathrooms and sports competitions, the women in prison with male rapists, and every Australian woman who has had her sex-based rights abolished can’t leave.
‘I will fight with every Australian woman until our rights are restored.’
Sall Grover has vowed to leave Australia after her ‘what is a woman’ appeal was thrown out by the High Court this week, saying she has ‘no respect for the judiciary’
She’d attempted to overturn a finding that she had discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle (picted), when she banned her from her female-only networking app in 2021
Ms Grover’s comments came just hours after the High Court found in favour of Ms Tickle, who was born male but identifies as female and has undergone gender-affirming surgery and hormone treatment.
Ms Grover’s appeal was dismissed by the Federal Court in May, which also doubled the damages awarded to Ms Tickle to $20,000. The court also ordered Ms Grover to pay Ms Tickle’s legal costs of up to $100,000.
In the High Court’s two-sentence explanation, the court stated there was ‘no reason to doubt the Full Court’s construction’ and that any appeal had ‘insufficient prospects of success’, a statement Ms Grover said ‘makes no sense.’
She also claimed the court’s decision essentially told Australians that they must ‘adhere to transgender ideology’ or be punished.
‘They have basically said that there is no issue with the law. But that is not true,’ she said. ‘Women still exist and we require legal protections. Currently, we don’t have them. The high court is fine with that.
‘The only option left is for politicians to do their jobs and put women’s sex based rights back into law.’
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During the drawn-out case, lawyers for the Giggle for Girls app argued that it was exempt from discrimination law because it sought to achieve substantial equality between men and women.
Its intention was to create a ‘safe space’ for women, Ms Grover’s lawyers said.
Ms Grover said she has no legal avenues left to explore and said the onus is now on politicians to change the law
Ms Grover’s Giggle for Girls app was marketed as a platform exclusively for women
‘This case is the ‘what is a woman?’ case, and one must be able to speak about it fearlessly and frankly,’ Ms Grover’s legal team said.
But this was challenged by lawyers for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, who argued that ‘invidious discrimination’ could be permitted under the guise of a special measure.
Under the Sex Discrimination Act, it is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their gender identity, sexual orientation or intersex status.
While she now knows this particular fight may be over, Ms Grover said she is confident that the law will change someday.
‘Reality always wins. Sometimes you just have to fight for it. I have no doubt that, eventually with a lot of hard work, the law will be changed,’ she said.
‘Men who claim to be women have won the battles but they won’t win the law. At the end of the day, in reality, in men who claim to be women remain men… no ridiculous court decision will change that reality.’
Equality Australia hailed Thursday’s decision as a major win.
‘For decades, Australian laws have recognised that a person’s legal sex is not limited to the sex they were assigned at birth. Any other interpretation would deny the reality and existence of trans people,’ Equality Australia legal director Heather Corkhill said.
While Ms Tickle is yet to speak publicly about the latest court action, she told the media in May that she hoped the Federal Court outcome would ‘assist trans and gender diverse people and their loved ones to heal.’
‘I now look forward to getting on with the rest of my life in the community we all know and love. One that embraces freedom and equality for all women,’ she said.
The Daily Mail has contacted Ms Tickle for comment.
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