Founder of Women's App Giggle Denied High Court Appeal in Transgender Discrimination Case

The High Court of Australia has refused special leave for Sall Grover, the founder of the women-only app Giggle for Girls, to appeal a ruling that found she discriminated against transgender woman Roxanne Tickle. This decision definitively shuts down the final avenue to challenge the previous verdict, which stated that excluding Tickle from the platform constituted gender identity discrimination.

According to the court’s decision published last week, the judges found no reason to doubt the Full Court’s construction of the relevant legislation. Earlier, in May 2026, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that Grover’s actions amounted to direct discrimination and ordered her to pay Tickle $20,000 in damages, doubling the initial award.

The now-defunct Giggle for Girls app was launched in 2020 as a safe online networking space for women. In 2021, Roxanne Tickle was barred from the application. Grover told the court she removed the account because she concluded the user was male based on a visual review of the profile picture. The High Court’s decision marks the end of this landmark legal battle in Australia regarding transgender individuals’ access to women-only spaces.