Dear Bridget Archer,
Re: The Federal Court Ruling in Tickle v. Giggle and the Urgent Need to Restore Sex to the Sex Discrimination Act
A case recently heard in the Federal Court of Australia has just concluded, and judgment has been found in favour of the Applicant. It is a judgment that should concern every Australian, as well as every visitor to our country.
In his judgment in Tickle v. Giggle (23 August 2024), Justice Robert Bromwich relied on amendments made to the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) by Julia Gillard’s government in 2013 (and supported by the then Opposition, led by Tony Abbott). The court accepted the word of a man that he has the gender identity of a woman. By virtue of that self-declared gender identity, Justice Bromwich interpreted those amendments to mean that the Applicant’s sex is now legally female.
In the words of Justice Bromwich: Roxanne Tickle is a transgender woman whose female sex is recognised by an updated Queensland birth certificate. He also relied on precedent to determine that, under the current SDA, “sex is changeable.”
It is now law in Australia that a man changes his sex from male to female when he claims the ‘Gender Identity’ of a woman, and he becomes a real woman. The existence of an altered Birth Certificate merely proves his sex change. It’s not a requirement to change sex.
Initially I was upset with Justice Bromwich, but with due reflection I can see that he has put the importance of recognising sex (as opposed to trusting the word of a man when he says he is a woman) in Australia right back where it belongs. Back into the hands of the representatives of the people of Australia.
Justice Bromwich has made it clear in his Judgement that Australian Courts can only interpret legislation as it is written, and pass judgment on that basis. And according to the SDA since 2013, sex is no longer biological, binary and unchangeable.
Roxanne Tickle is now legally a woman, so: – · He can enter any space exclusively for women, and he does. · He can play in female only sports, and he does. · He can use the resources that are only for women, and he does. Any man in Australia can do all those things if he claims he has the gender identity of a woman.
This is how gender identity is defined in the SDA: – gender identity means the gender-related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of a person (whether by way of medical intervention or not), with or without regard to the person’s designated sex at birth. A man’s word is his Gender Identity.
Sall Grover’s crime, the Respondent in the case, was to recognise the sex of a man. She recognised his sex because the appearance and mannerisms of sex are instantly recognisable in (and by) the overwhelming majority of all people in Australia. For recognising that Roxanne Tickle is a man and treating him as a man, Sall has been found guilty in the Federal Court of Australia of indirect discrimination on the grounds of gender, and ordered to pay him damages of $10,000, plus his legal costs.
Sall Grover has been punished by our legal system for doing what Australians have always done. Acting on the reality of biological sex.
Women are well and truly on notice in Australia now that we can’t recognise the sex of a man and act accordingly under any circumstances, because we risk serious legal sanction and financial penalty for doing so. How do we recognise the gender of a man in our changerooms or public toilets? Gender isn’t recognisable on sight the way sex is, so to avoid breaking the law for protesting against his presence we must ask him and trust his answer. “G’day. Are you a woman”? Australians need you to give the legal abolition of sex in 2013 the attention it deserves in our houses of parliament.
PLEASE GIVE AUSTRALIANS OUR SEX BACK Repeal the Gillard Amendments and put sex back into The Sex Discrimination Act.
Australians deserve a say. A plebiscite is the way
Yours sincerely,