A transgender woman from Australia has won a discrimination case against a women-only social media app, after she was denied access on the basis of being male.
The Federal Court found that although Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against, she was a victim of indirect discrimination - which refers to when a decision disadvantages a person with a particular attribute - and ordered the app to pay her A$10,000 ($6,700; £5,100) plus costs.
It’s a landmark ruling when it comes to gender identity, and at the very heart of the case was the ever more contentious question: what is a woman?
In 2021, Tickle downloaded “Giggle for Girls”, an app marketed as an online refuge where women could share their experiences in a safe space, and where men were not allowed.
Wouldn’t this apply to dating sites/apps in the same way too?
Dating is literally discrimination, you are picking a partner by discriminating.
Would this ruling not mean you can’t filter out (either by registration or search) people with certain traits?
I’d think no. This is barring someone from using an app entirely. But when it comes to dating, everyone has a preference of gender, even if that preference is “no preference”.
And dating isn’t discrimination. It’s picking a person that you want to spend extra, and frequently intimate, time with. It’s a billion subconscious factors that your brain interprets as love, affection, or whatever other emotion your brain wants. Can some of those factors be discriminatory? Sure.
I like men and women and everything in-between and around, and I’m sure I have plenty of biases and discriminations of my own, but that’s not enough to outright call all dating discrimination
I think you asked a good question, but I also think the answer is no. As I understand this situation, the platform in this case did the discrimination. So in a dating app the user simply specified preferences on an individual basis. It might mean that certain selectors become an issue… can you offer a racial filter???.. But this is for another lawsuit I guess.
Please show me where in the article it says it was a dating website.
I’ll wait.
I’m not saying it was a dating website? I’m saying wouldn’t the exact same thing apply to dating sites??
Not even remotely. Are dating sites for men or women only?
Did u even think this thru? Lol
Some are, yes.
Here are some dating apps run by Match Group that you could call discriminatory (owners of tinder, okcupid and hinge):
Those companies don’t operate in Australia and I’d be surprised if they were legal.
That shit seems so insanely racist.
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Find out?
So you used a false equivalency then?
What are you talking about? You realise case law has far reaching implications right?
Well obviously you weren’t the judge so maybe you don’t know all the facts that were presented in court.
Besides, a dating website is much different than a website one goes to find friends of the same gender.
Are you not capable of reading your own article?