Sall Grover, founder of the female-only networking app Giggle for Girls, lost her appeal at the High Court of Australia after being found guilty of discriminating against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle in 2021. The court awarded Tickle $20,000 and up to $100,000 in legal costs. Following the decision, Tickle expressed relief but noted the battle's toll on her physically and emotionally. Grover announced plans to leave Australia to continue her business elsewhere, stating that she is committed to continuing her fight. The case has sparked significant debate among Australians regarding women’s rights and protections for transgender individuals.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-13,
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The transgender woman at the centre of the high-profile 'what is a woman' sex discrimination case has broken her silence after the nation's highest court ruled in her favour.
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court → see → favour
Giggle for Girls app founder Sall Grover had attempted to overturn a finding that she had discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle when she banned her from the female-only networking app in 2021.
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she → attempt → 2021
Ms Grover's appeal was initially dismissed by the Federal Court in May, which also doubled the damages awarded to Ms Tickle to $20,000.
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which → dismiss → 20,000
The court also ordered Ms Grover to pay Ms Tickle's legal costs of up to $100,000.
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court → order → 100,000
Ms Grover challenged the verdict in the High Court of Australia, which on Thursday rejected her bid for special leave to appeal and awarded costs to Ms Tickle.
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which → challenge → Tickle
Ms Tickle has now spoken publicly about the legal battle that drew widespread attention across Australia.
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that → speak → Australia
'It's been nearly five years since I lodged my discrimination complaint.
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I → lodge → complaint
It's been a relentlessly exhausting time, both physically and emotionally, for me and many others,' she said.
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she → say → me
'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.
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refusal → hope → world
'I wish my trans and gender diverse siblings, as well as their loved ones, much hope and love for their collective futures.
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I → wish → futures
Roxanne Tickle has opened up on the the legal battle that garnered widespread attention in Australia and the media
'
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that → open → Australia
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.
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you → learn → world
Let's all be kinder to each other and we might all enjoy it a little more.'
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we → let → it
Ms Grover revealed that she intended to leave Australia to set up her business overseas in the wake of the High Court loss, and doubled down on her vow to continue her fight in a Facebook post on Saturday.
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she → reveal → Saturday
'Thank you to the thousands of people who have sent me a message, email, reply or text of support.
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who → thank → support
I will try to reply to eventually,' she wrote.
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she → try → ?
'But for the moment I just want to say: I’m ok, angry & sad, but ok, and the fight isn’t over.
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fight → want → moment
'A marathon runner doesn’t give up at kilometer 30, and neither do I.
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runner → give → kilometer
'
The legal battle has left Australians divided, with many slamming the High Court's decision.
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many → leave → decision
'This sets women's rights back 100 years,' one wrote.
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one → set → rights
Sall Grover revealed that she intended to leave the country to set up her business overseas in the wake of the High Court loss
'That final decision is a sad day for all girls and women in Australia,' another added.
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another → reveal → Australia
'It erases girls and women, by supporting the idea that anyone can be one just because they say they are one.
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they → erase → idea
'
Other Aussies threw their support behind Ms Tickle.
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Aussies → throw → Tickle
Trans women have been treated as women by Australian law for decades without issue,' one wrote.
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one → treat → issue
The only thing new is the scale of the highly funded and co-ordinated US Christian lobby-funded campaign to spread misinformation and strip trans people of their legal rights.
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thing → fund → rights
a second chimed in.
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second → chime → ?
Ms Grover, who conceded there were no more legal avenues available for her to pursue, told the Daily Mail that she wanted to leave the country 'because I will never forgive the government and I have no respect for the judiciary'.
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I → concede → judiciary
'I won't live under an authoritarian nonsense ideology.
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I → live → ideology
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
'
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it → draw → men
But I am lucky that I have the potential to leave.
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I → have → potential
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.
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rights → have → rapists
'I will fight with every Australian woman until our rights are restored.'
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rights → fight → woman
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.
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who → find → surgery
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.'
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Grover → state → sense
She also claimed the court's decision essentially told Australians that they must 'adhere to transgender ideology' or be punished.
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they → claim → ideology
'They have basically said that there is no issue with the law.
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They → say → law
But that is not true,' she said.
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she → say → ?
'Women still exist and we require legal protections.
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we → exist → protections
Currently, we don't have them.
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we → have → them
'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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politicians → leave → law
…and 3 more, not listed.
