The High Court of Australia has refused to hear an appeal in the long-running Giggle v Tickle case, bringing the legal dispute to an end and reinforcing existing interpretations of Australian law regarding legal sex and gender recognition.
Sall Grover, founder of the now-defunct social media app Giggle for Girls, was seeking special leave to appeal in the discrimination case brought against her and her company by Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman.
The High Court of Australia has refused to hear an appeal in the long-running Giggle v Tickle case, bringing the legal dispute to an end and reinforcing existing interpretations of Australian law regarding legal sex and gender recognition.
Sall Grover, founder of the now-defunct social media app Giggle for Girls, was seeking special leave to appeal in the discrimination case brought against her and her company by Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman.
Grover had already lost the case in the Federal Court in August 2024, which found that Tickle had been indirectly discriminated against under Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act after she was removed from the app in 2020. The platform had been marketed as a space for women to connect. The court ordered that Tickle be paid compensation of $10,000, in addition to substantial legal costs.
In August 2025, the matter returned to court when both parties appealed aspects of the original decision by Justice Robert Bromwich. The Full Court upheld the original finding of indirect discrimination and additionally found that direct discrimination had occurred, increasing the damages award to $20,000.
Some legal observers had expected the High Court to grant special leave to appeal, making today’s decision a significant development in the case.
In a brief statement, the High Court said: “There is no reason to doubt the Full Court’s construction of s. 7D (1) and (2) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). Any appeal dependent on the demonstration of error in the Full Court’s construction of those provisions has insufficient prospects of success to warrant a grant of special leave to appeal.”
Speaking to The Australian following the decision, Grover criticised the outcome.
“We now have confirmation that the High Court is captured by an ideology, as is the Federal Court, and so we need politicians to fix this. We have a government that won’t, but we have rising opposition to this kind of ideology being imposed upon people.
“Everybody is now at the mercy of Australian Human Rights Commission complaints if you don’t go along with this. No one is safe because if you are deemed to have discriminated against a man who claims to be a woman, you have no legal recourse,” Grover said.
Equality Australia welcomed the decision.
“This leaves no further appeal avenues, and after five long years the matter is finally closed. This is a major win. Australian law has long recognised that a person’s legal sex is not limited to the sex they were assigned at birth.
“Trans women, like all women, deserve to live safely, participate fully in society, and be treated with dignity and respect,” the advocacy group said.
OUTinPerth has reached out to Roxanne Tickle for comment.
