Speakers at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London criticised contemporary approaches to gender identity and argued that women’s sex-based rights were being weakened.
The event, held at Olympia London, brought together politicians, activists and public figures from several countries. One of its most widely discussed speeches came from Sall Grover. She is the founder of the Australian women-only social networking platform Giggle. Her criticism of gender identity policies was publicly endorsed by Belgian MP Freya Van den Driessche. She warned that society risked losing its connection with objective reality.
Giggle founder addresses gender ideology debate
Grover became involved in a high-profile legal dispute after Roxanne Tickle. A transgender woman, was denied access to the Giggle platform and brought a discrimination case against the company. Addressing the ARC conference, Grover rejected the central premises of gender identity theory.
“Gender identity, gender ideology, transgenderism whatever you want to call it is not true. It is not real. Every aspect of it is a lie. In fact, every claim it makes is the exact opposite of the truth. Men are not women. Women are not men. Nobody is born in the wrong body. We are told to be kind…” she said.
She later shared a recording of the speech on X, accompanied by a similarly worded message:
“Gender ideology and transgenderism are not true. Every aspect of them is a lie. In fact, every claim they make is the reverse of the truth. Men are not women, women are not men, nobody is born in the wrong body, sex cannot be changed and gender identity does not exist.”
The remarks generated extensive discussion online, with supporters describing Grover as a defender of women’s rights and critics accusing her of denying the identities and legal protections of transgender people.
Van den Driessche backs Sall Grover
Freya Van den Driessche publicly supported the Australian businesswoman, quoting one of the central arguments from her speech.
“Respect to Sall Grover. ‘If the state can make you believe that a man is a woman, it can make you believe anything.’ If we do not eradicate gender ideology, we will lose reality,” the Belgian parliamentarian wrote.
Her intervention placed the dispute within a wider political debate over whether governments should define sex and gender primarily through biological criteria or individual identity. Supporters of traditional and sex-based definitions argue that policies based on self-declared gender can undermine protections created specifically for women.
Opponents say this position marginalises transgender people and can contribute to discrimination against a vulnerable minority.
Legal dispute over women-only platform
The case involving Giggle has attracted international attention since the platform was launched in 2019. Grover created the application as an online space reserved for women. After Tickle was denied access, the dispute became a test of how Australian anti-discrimination law applies to single-sex services and transgender users.
A court ruled against Grover’s company and ordered it to pay Tickle A$10,000 in compensation. The proceedings became a prominent case in the international gender ideology debate, with both sides presenting it as having implications beyond one social media platform.
Supporters of Grover say the ruling restricts women’s ability to organise spaces based on biological sex. Transgender rights advocates argue that excluding transgender women from services available to other women amounts to unlawful discrimination.
During her ARC appearance, Grover described the legal proceedings and the personal and financial consequences of the case. Writer Zoë Calvin later published an article supporting her and reproduced a full transcript of the speech, calling on readers to back the businesswoman during her continuing legal battle.
Grover vows to relaunch Giggle
Despite the court ruling, Grover said she remained confident that she would ultimately prevail and relaunch her company as an international platform for women.
“I know that, one way or another, I will win in the end, because the truth always does. I will be able to relaunch my company and provide women with an online platform where they can connect with one another around the world. I will be able to sleep soundly knowing that my free daughter has rights and Roxanne Tickle will never be a woman,” she concluded.
The speech highlighted the increasingly sharp divide surrounding gender identity legislation, women-only spaces and anti-discrimination law. The debate is no longer confined to campaign groups.
It has become an increasingly prominent political issue across Europe, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, with opposing sides offering fundamentally different definitions of equality, identity and women’s rights.
