The Giggle vs. Tickle Verdict - A Bad Decision for LGB Australians

Today the Full Federal Court dismissed Giggle's appeal in Giggle for Girls v Tickle, upholding the original finding that a women-only app was required to admit a biological male on the basis of his legal gender identity.

LGB Alliance Australia is deeply concerned by this outcome. Not only because we dismiss the legal complexities involved, but because we understand what it means in practice for lesbians, gay men, and bisexual Australians.

Same-sex attraction is grounded in biological sex and this ruling weakens that very foundation.

Lesbians are attracted to women, to adult human females. Gay men are attracted to men, to adult human males. Bisexual people are attracted to both sexes. Our sexual orientation is grounded in biological reality, not "gender identities". They are based on the biological sex of the people we are attracted to.

When a court holds that "sex" in Australian law is not confined to biological reality - that it is changeable, and includes legal "gender" recognition - it doesn't only affect a social media app - it removes the legal protection of same-sex attraction itself. If "woman" can legally include a biological male, the word "lesbian" - a woman attracted exclusively to other women - loses all meaning.

Does claiming a gender identity confer greater legal rights than those held by women? It appears so.

Lesbians bear the sharpest edge of this decision. Women-only spaces exist because females share specific, sex-based experiences. Lesbians have historically depended on female spaces to organise, connect, and find community. This ruling makes it harder - legally and practically - to maintain those spaces. This strikes at something lesbians have long understood as fundamental to their identity and safety.

The Lesbian Action Group saw this clearly, which is why they intervened in this case. We thank the Lesbian Action Group for standing up for our rights. 

This decision, combined with the existing 2013 amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act, means that in Australian law, "gender identity" rights can effectively override biological sex rights- even in contexts specifically designed to serve females. It sets a precedent with far-reaching consequences for single-sex services, lesbians' rights of association, and the integrity of sex-based legal protections across the board.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls has already criticised the original ruling, warning that it allows gender identity to "supplant sex and override women's rights to female-only services and spaces." We echo that concern, and we note that Australia's international obligations under CEDAW were designed to protect females, not to be reinterpreted in ways that work against them.

What Comes Next?

LGB Alliance Australia calls on the Australian Parliament to clarify, in plain terms, that sex in the Sex Discrimination Act means biological sex and that sex-based protections for women and for same-sex attracted people cannot be displaced by "gender identity" provisions.

We are also watching whether Giggle seeks leave to appeal to the High Court, which would give Australia's highest judicial authority the opportunity to resolve these questions definitively.

The rights of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual Australians depend on the law recognising biological sex as real. We will keep fighting until it does.

Sall Grover faced not only legal action but a coordinated campaign of abuse including from former gay organisations and gay media outlets that chose to side with gender ideology over the rights of women and same-sex attracted people. These groups once championed lesbian and gay rights. They now work to erase the biological reality that makes those rights meaningful.

Of course, there is a diversity of views in the LGB community. Some will oppose the decision. Some will be indifferent. Some will never have heard of it. Some will support it. Some will be very concerned but silenced by the culture of compliance that has taken hold of their organisations. Some will know that weakening women's rights is, in the long run, harmful to gay and lesbian rights. Many will understand how harmful it is for society to diminish women's sex-based rights in favour of gender identity rights.

We will not stand silently and watch women and their sex-based rights be eroded. We stand with Sall.

LGB Alliance Australia is a member of LGB Alliance International, a worldwide organisation advocating for the rights of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people.