It’s a bad day for biology. Sall Grover, founder of The Giggle for Girls app, has been ordered to pay $10,000 in compensation plus legal costs after losing to transgender individual Roxanne Tickle. This falls a long way short of the $200,000 originally sought.

Sall Grover reacted to the decision on Twitter:

‘Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues.’

Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated.

The fight for women’s rights continues. ?‍♀️#TickleVGiggle

— Sall Grover (@salltweets) August 22, 2024

Rachael Wong added:

‘I am sitting here reflecting on this morning’s verdict in Tickle v Giggle and flipping between being outraged at the fact that women and girls have no sex-based rights in Australia, are not even recognised as a legal category anymore in Australia, and sort of being like well we’ve already known this for some time.’

I still feel like I’m in the twilight zone after sitting in the Federal Court this morning & listening to a judge declare the erasure of women & our sex-based rights in Australia, in favour of the feelings of a man he calls “Miss Tickle”.#TicklevGiggle #IStandWithSallGrover ? pic.twitter.com/2JvfJRohdD

— Rachael Wong (@RachaelWongAus) August 23, 2024

Roxanne Tickle, who was born male but has identified as a woman for many years, was excluded from the female-only app back in 2021. This exclusion, it was argued, constituted gender identity discrimination.

Justice Robert Bromwich said of the decision:

‘The indirect discrimination cases succeeded because Ms Tickle was excluded from the use of the Giggle app because she did not look sufficiently female according to the respondents.’

Effectively, this means that gender identity is superior to biological sex when it comes to discriminating against individuals in sex-segregated spaces.

‘What is a woman?’

The once simple question has now become a complicated matter of what the law determines a woman to be.

‘We’re with you all the way,’ said Victorian MP Moira Deeming, to Sall Grover.

Those who continue to fight for sex-based rights – in law – insist that biology is immutable, regardless of gender-affirming surgery or legal actions such as the changing of gender on a birth certificate.

This sits fundamentally at odds with the transgender movement which leans heavily into ‘Self ID’ where individuals assert their preferred gender based on a variety of actions that may or may not include physical alterations. In some cases, a declaration of gender identity is all that is required.

Where does this leave women’s rights for biological women?

Is there such a thing as a sex-segregated space in Australia?

These are the questions being asked in the aftermath of this case, particularly on the hashtag #IstandwithSallGrover which has been trending around the world.

‘[This is] a major step forward for the freedom and equality of all women,’ said Jackie Turner from Trans Justice Project.

Not all women agree.