Support Sal Grover (and lesbians) against Tickle’s revenge

The legal case of Tickle v Giggle is scheduled for the Sydney High Court next week on 9 April. Please consider:

• supporting her financially here: Giggle Crowdfunding.
• supporting public knowledge of the case – Email nswreg@fedcourt.gov.au and request livestream broadcast for Tickle v Giggle. The more people who ask, the better chance we’ll get camera access to the proceeding.

Below is a copy of the email sent by CoAL:

Email to: nswreg@fedcourt.gov.au

Date: 1.4.24

The Coalition of Activist Lesbians (CoAL) requests that access to the proceedings of the upcoming court case Tickle v Giggle, scheduled to be heard from 9 April in Sydney, be provided by digital livestream.

The case is a pivotal one for the rights of lesbians and all women both nationally and internationally, in terms of determining how to resolve the clash of rights between ‘gender identity’ and sex and, in this case, male v female sex rights. The Federal Court of Australia has already acknowledged “the significant public interest in this matter” and has posted a publicly available Online File on its website. We ask that the Court extend this acknowledgement into providing greater public access to the proceedings.

Internationally, this case is significant because the defendant’s case examines how Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 is aligned with the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a universal international standard for women’s human rights that is sex-based. The plaintiff’s challenge to women’s sex-based rights in Australia could set a legal precedent both here and internationally.

Nationally, this case addresses the devastating inconsistencies in amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act made in 2013, which were made without consulting women as key stakeholders, nor was other close scrutiny provided by way of Committee hearings and public debate. These would have revealed the competing rights created when adding the categories sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status, and the lack of definitional clarity caused by removing the definitions of sex, man and woman. There is now significant international interest by feminist commentators (eg WDI (Women’s Declaration International) 2024 ‘Sall Grover, Australia, Tickle v Giggle: The case of gender identity v sex;’ Julie Szego 2023, ‘Australia’s new cultural imperialism?; Julie Bindel ‘Sall Grover on the legal battle which could threaten women’s rights globally,’ The Spectator). The relative silence in most other major media organisations does not, however, indicate low public interest but, rather, infiltration by gender identity ideologies into Australia media (eg the ABC), curbing media reporting on this case, which presents views that challenge the concept of gender identity, thereby stifling public debate awareness and debate.

CoAL is very concerned about the erosion of lesbian rights to assembly and free speech in Australia from the priority that ‘gender’ has been given over women’s rights. We have documented three examples of how this has meant the loss of single sex space for lesbians since 2006, and we have lodged submissions to government authorities planning to legislate against ‘vilification’ that could be used by trans activists to silence lesbians who assert their right of sexual orientation on the basis of sex, not gender.

We respectfully ask that you grant our request.

Virginia Mansel Lees

Convenor, CoAL