At the time of writing, ‘Tickle v Giggle’ is the highest profile court case in the world that has onerous implications for gay rights. Giggle was an online women-only platform in Australia, which was widely used as a lesbian dating service. The service excluded males for obvious reasons. Lesbians have the same human right to the freedom of association as the rest of us, and if someone is attracted only to female bodies then they have no obligation to include male bodies within their dating pool.
The ‘Tickle v Giggle’ case involves the Giggle app being sued by ‘Roxy Tickle’, who is a natal male that now identifies as a transgender woman and expresses an interest in lesbian dating. However, ‘Roxy Tickle’ has not been permitted to use the Giggle app and is now suing the owner of the app on this basis.
This seems to be a pretty easy case. ‘Roxy Tickle’ has exactly the same rights as the rest of us, and should be treated with compassion and respect at all times. However, lesbians also have the right to restrict their groups only to those within their own protected category. Lesbians should not be forced to include male-bodied people within their category, when the very definition of this group is that they are attracted only to female bodies. This is a fundamental issue of human rights for gay people.
Unfortunately, some people who like to think of themselves as supporters of gay rights, have utterly betrayed this cause and taken precisely the opposite position. Whereas lesbian groups are campaigning on the Giggle side of this court case, some who believe themselves to be progressive will promote only the arguments advanced by the Tickle side.
The short video clip above includes the claim that many people who seek to exclude male-bodied people from lesbian groups are “bigots”. That is a total betrayal of gay rights, and of the fundamental human rights of lesbians. This video clip also includes the following quote:
“Trans women are women, and if that woman likes another woman then she is a lesbian. Simple as that.”
Quote from the video clip promoting the same arguments as ‘Roxy Tickle’
The video clip above is a response to an article that I had written, arguing that positions like those offered by ‘Roxy Tickle’ rely on supernatural Cartesian Dualism. That is, the argument advanced by ‘Roxy Tickle’ depends on there being a gendered soul that is independent from the physical body. In fact, ‘Roxy Tickle’ has made this argument very explicitly.
The idea here is that transgender people have an immaterial ethereal spirit or soul, which is a different gender from that of their physical body. The central problem with this idea is that it is at odds with the laws of physics, and is easily demonstrable to be absolutely false. René Descartes was obviously not an idiot, but he was obviously just plain flat wrong when he insisted that the pineal gland within the brain functions as the interface between the body and the soul. Nevertheless, in supporting the same position as ‘Roxy Tickle’, some people who consider themselves to be rationalists will strenuously object to the idea that Cartesian Dualism is false.
Rationalists have traditionally considered themselves to be opposed to supernatural religious ideas about spirits and souls, and in favour of progressive causes like fundamental human rights for gay people. However, some of those who have considered themselves to be rationalists are now keen to defend the idea that a person can be “born in the wrong body”, and are willing to sacrifice gay rights to do so. They will promote supernatural concepts like “mind-over-matter” and “out-of-body experiences”, as they throw gay rights under the bus. What does it mean to continue saying “Happy Pride”, while adopting the opposing position when lesbian groups are campaigning for their fundamental human rights?
This “Happy Pride” message excludes the lesbians who are campaigning for their fundamental human rights in the world’s most high profile court case where gay rights are at stake. It is a shameful betrayal of human rights for gay people, in service of the supernatural dualist idea that a person can have a male body and female soul or spirit. So great is their need to scream “bigot” at others, that some people will sacrifice almost anything and anyone towards this end.