JK Rowling throws her support behind Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover: 'May the best woman win'
The case, known as Tickle v Giggle, centres around Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman who sued social media company Giggle for Girls Pty Ltd and its founder, Sall Grover, for alleged discrimination based on gender identity.
Giggle, a women-only app, removed Ms Tickle from its platform in September 2021.
In 2024, the Federal Court found that Ms Grover and her app Giggle had unlawfully discriminated against the 54-year-old.
Ms Grover is now appealing that decision, with the first hearing held on Monday.
Rowling, who has been a vocal critic of gender identity ideology and a prominent supporter of sex-based rights, publicly backed Grover ahead of the hearing.
'Good luck, Sall. May the best woman (haha) win x,' Rowling wrote on X.
Earlier this year, the Harry Potter author celebrated a UK Supreme Court ruling that determined that, under Britain's Equality Act, the legal definition of 'woman' refers specifically to a biological female, not to gender identity.
'Good luck, Sall. May the best woman (haha) win x,' Rowling wrote on X (pictured)
The bestselling author was a major backer of the legal campaign behind that decision and donated more than $140,000 to the group behind the case.
On Monday, the appeal court heard that Giggle was a 'special measure' exempt from discrimination law because it sought to achieve equality between men and women.
Ms Grover's barrister, Noel Hutley SC, said the ability to create these kinds of special measures to promote equality would be compromised if Justice Robert Bromwich's decision remained because they would - by definition - discriminate against a group.
'A special measure will exclude someone necessarily because it's otherwise not special,' he told the Full Court of the Federal Court on Monday.
The barrister said his client's intentions had been to create a 'safe space' for women.
The court was shown evidence of women who had suffered sexual abuse, trolling, alcoholism, and harassment from men, and had found refuge on the Giggle platform.
Mr Hutley told a panel of three judges that the evidence showed 'the most deplorable behaviour of men on the internet'.
'It's got to the point to say that a blow-by-blow of it is, that certain people couldn't get onto it and were hurt by it - that's unfortunate,' he said.
Lawyers for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner challenged this in court, saying 'invidious discrimination' could take place under the guise of a special measure.
When Mr Hutley said this was an 'extreme example' and didn't need to be considered, Justice Melissa Perry pushed back - asking why someone seeking to actively harm another group would be protected.
'Why would the (Sex Discrimination Act) then say that's OK?' she asked.
Mr Hutley said parliament had to form a compromise when enacting the legislation.
'So you say as long as you have a purpose of achieving substantive equality between one of the protected groups, you're in, irrespective of the nature of any other purpose?' the judge asked.
'Quite. If your purpose was to advance women, (if another) purpose was to disadvantage men then there's nothing wrong with that,' Mr Hutley replied.
Ms Grover denies findings she rejected Ms Tickle - who was born male but identifies as female - from Giggle in late 2021 because she did not look like a cisgender woman.
Rather, she simply weeded out people who did not 'appear female', her lawyer said.
'Isn't that a distinction without a difference?' Justice Perry asked.
Ms Tickle has also filed her own challenge to Justice Bromwich's decision, seeking to increase the $10,000 in damages she was awarded in August 2024.
She further claims the judge incorrectly found she was not directly discriminated against by Giggle and Ms Grover.
The judge found the condition that Giggle members had the appearance of cisgender women did not specifically target Ms Tickle, but indirectly discriminated against her.
Her barrister, Georgina Costello KC, gave short submissions that her client was in fact a woman and that the definition of 'sex' was not confined to a biological concept.
Ms Tickle has identified as a woman since 2017, undergoing surgery two years later and getting a new birth certificate that lists her sex as female.
For Ms Grover, sex is a biological reality assigned at birth and cannot be changed.
Supporters of Grover have been seen outside the Sydney courtroom, holding banners in defence of sex-based rights.
One sign read, 'Google autogynephilia', a reference to a term describing a man's sexual arousal at the thought or image of himself as a woman.
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