Sall Grover urges Aussies to ‘wake up’ to the erosion of women’s rights

The creator of a women-only app that allegedly discriminated against a transgender woman is calling on her fellow countrymen to “wake up” and acknowledge the erosion of women’s rights, as she prepares to appeal the decision.

Sall Grover, the founder of the app Giggle for Girls, lost a lawsuit in federal court last month brought by transgender woman Roxanne Tickle.

Ms Grover had removed the 54-year-old from her app in 2021 after she claimed she was biologically male.

This came despite the fact that Ms Tickle had been living as a woman since 2017, underwent gender confirmation surgery two years later and had her gender changed to ‘female’ on a new birth certificate.

Judge Robert Bromwich ruled that Ms Tickle had suffered indirect discrimination and ordered Ms Grover to pay $10,000, a fraction of the $200,000 she was seeking in damages, and to cover her legal costs.

Now Ms Grover has come down hard on her opponent and put all Australians on notice.

“They make you believe that men are women. And if they can make you believe that, they can make you believe anything,” Grover told Daily Mail Australia.

“Politicians can’t campaign to end violence against women and portray themselves as the good guys, while literally passing legislation that bans women from saying ‘no’ to men.”

“Women should be given the opportunity to say no, it’s that simple.”

At the heart of the case is the difficult question of what defines a woman.

When journalist Piers Morgan asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year what a woman was, he caused controversy by saying: “A grown woman.”

For Ms Grover, sex is a biological reality determined at birth and cannot be changed. She is pushing for this to be enshrined in law under the Sex Discrimination Act.

Ms Tickle’s legal team argued that sex and gender identity are not binary categories, but are partly social and psychological.

Ultimately, Judge Bromwich agreed, ruling that the argument put forward by Ms Grover’s legal team ‘contrary to a long history of lawsuits that have been heard in courts for more than 30 years.

“These cases prove that gender in the normal sense is mutable,” he said.

However, Mrs. Grover is not deterred.

“The question of ‘what is a woman’ is an important issue that must be decided by one judge,” she said.

‘It has to go to the Supreme Court, because this concerns legislation.’

Ms Grover will file her appeal in the first week of October. She has bolstered her legal team with a well-known QC, whose identity she is keeping secret.

So far, she has raised more than $150,000 of the $800,000 goal for the grueling lawsuit.

But she’s in it for the long haul and expects it to last until 2026.

“Women’s rights are slowly crumbling behind the scenes and are not being addressed,” she said.

‘It’s now come to the point where I and so many other women say: no, enough is enough.’

“I’m inundated with messages from ordinary Australians saying, ‘I have absolutely no idea this is happening, this is outrageous.’

“When Australians wake up and realise what is happening, they, especially parents, are furious and want to get involved.”

Ms Grover is particularly outraged by comments made by her opponent after Judge Bromwich had delivered his verdict.

Speaking to reporters on the court steps, Ms Tickle said she hoped the outcome would “provide healing for trans and gender diverse people”.

“I came forward to show transgender people that you can be brave and stand up for yourself,” she said.

‘I know that I can now move on with the rest of my life, have a cup of coffee with my friends, play hockey with my team and put this terrible event behind me.’

Ms Grover, who refuses to use feminine pronouns for Ms Tickle, called the comments a “complete slap in the face”.

Despite the court ruling, Ms Grover said she is still determined to build an app that is only for women and bans transgender people.

‘I wanted to fight back because I don’t just want to run a women’s space, I want to be able to go to women’s spaces. I want women’s rights.

‘We have yet to decide whether the app will be moved overseas and not available to Australian women.

“It would effectively mean that an Australian women’s business would literally be thrown out of the country.”

Ms Grover is particularly angry with Labor politicians such as Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who this week rejected One Nation’s Pauline Hanson’s bill to recognise biological reality.

“We know how vulnerable the gender diverse community is, we know how difficult it is for them, and we don’t think the Senate is the right place to have that debate,” Senator Gallagher said.

“That debate should be had at home, with friends, with health care professionals who want to guide the difficult decisions for young people in this country.”

Ms Grover said it was incomprehensible that Senator Gallagher was also Minister for Women.

“She said the Senate is not equipped to have a debate on this and you think: what the hell is it for then?

“It’s an absurd statement to make, we’re talking about legislation. It needs to be discussed with legislators. That’s literally their job.”

Mrs. Grover had a serious warning for other protected groups in society.

“I think women are the canaries in the coal mine here because it happens to us first,” she said.

“But I think LGBTQ+ organizations celebrating this victory need to explain to their gay male members that they too can no longer have spaces for gay men.

“It doesn’t seem to have occurred to them, otherwise they’d just be gaslighting everyone. They’re turkeys voting for Christmas.”

Daily Mail Australia approached Ms Tickle for comment.