Transgender judge launches legal action for rehearing of Supreme Court gender ruling
The Supreme Court ruling on biological sex is facing a human rights challenge.
The UK’s first transgender judge has launched a human rights challenge against the controversial Supreme Court ruling of the definition of a woman in equalities law.
Retired judge Victoria McCloud has lodged a case against the UK in the European Court of Human Rights calling for a rehearing, arguing the process that led to the ruling on biological sex undermined her human rights.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled the definition of a woman in the UK Equalities Act refers to biological sex. Despite the judges stressing the ruling was not “a triumph of one or more groups … at the expense of another”, campaigners have claimed victory and have put pressure on public bodies to implement their interpretation of the ruling.
Ms McCloud, who is now a litigation strategist at W-Legal, has lodged a case for a rehearing of the case.
According to the Guardian, Ms McCloud is arguing the Supreme Court undermined her article six rights to a fair trial when it refused to hear her representation and evidence from any other trans people or groups.
READ MORE: Scottish Trans warns 'urgent' UK gender law change needed if single-sex guidance not revised
Last year, Ms McCloud’s application to join the Supreme Court litigation on the basis the case could significantly impact legal protection for transgender women was rejected.
The court agreed to take interventions from a number of trans-exclusionary groups, including Sex Matter and For Women Scotland, who brought the Supreme Court case against the Scottish Government, as well as campaign organisations including the controversial LGB Alliance.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Supreme Court judgment on definition of woman 'massively overinterpreted'
Ms McCloud, who is supported by Trans Legal Clinic and W-Legal, said the application was brought under articles six, eight and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
She warned this was “essentially the rights to respect for who I am, my family, my human existence, my right to a fair trial in matters determining my own freedoms and obligations without discrimination”.
“No representation or evidence had been included from us in the 8,500 group [the estimated UK population of people with gender recognition certificates who are diagnosed as transsexual],” she said. “I was refused. The court gave no reasoning.
“The court reversed my and 8,500 other people’s sex for the whole of equality law … we are now two sexes at once. We are told we must use dangerous spaces such as male changing rooms and loos when we have female anatomy.
“If we are raped, we must go to male rape crisis. We are searched by male police, to ‘protect’ female police from, I assume, our female anatomy.”
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