‘A Beacon of Light’: Roxanne Tickle Speaks Out After High Court’s Final Appeal Decision

Roxanne Tickle has shared a heartfelt message following the High Court’s refusal to hear Sall Grover’s final appeal in the Giggle v Tickle discrimination case, expressing hope that the outcome offers “a beacon of light” for transgender and gender diverse people.

Tickle reflected on the exhaustion of her lengthy legal battle and called for greater kindness towards trans people.

Roxanne Tickle Speaks Out

“It’s been nearly 5 years since I lodged my discrimination complaint. It’s been a relentlessly exhausting time, both physically and emotionally, for me and many others” she said.

“I hope that yesterday’s High Court special leave refusal provides clarity to the protections in law for transgender and gender diverse people in Australia, and perhaps provides a beacon of light to the rest of the world.”

“I wish my trans and gender diverse siblings, as well as their loved ones, much hope and love for their collective futures. May we all learn that just being different is not grounds for you to be ridiculed, attacked, feared or hated, but that instead you are providing a little something extra to the world. Life is not easy. Let’s all be kinder to each other and we might all enjoy it a little more” she concluded.

On September 10, six High Court judges refused Grover and Giggle for Girls permission to appeal, with costs, leaving the Full Federal Court’s ruling in place.

The judges found no reason to doubt the Full Federal Court’s interpretation of the Sex Discrimination Act’s special measures provisions. An appeal challenging that interpretation had insufficient prospects of success.

The dispute began after Tickle was excluded from Giggle for Girls, Grover’s now-defunct women-only social networking app.

In 2024, the Federal Court found that Tickle had experienced unlawful indirect discrimination on the basis of her gender identity.

Grover and Giggle appealed, while Tickle challenged aspects of the original judgment through a cross-appeal.

The Full Federal Court dismissed Grover’s appeal and found that Tickle had experienced direct discrimination. It also increased her damages from $10,000 to $20,000.

Equality Australia welcomed the High Court outcome as a major win, while Grover remained defiant in her response to The Star Observer , stating that “Men who claim to be women are men.”

“That is reality. No court decision will change that reality. They were men yesterday, they’re men today and they will be men tomorrow. I will remain a woman, something men who claim to be women will never be. That’s how reality works.”