Britain’s first transgender judge, Victoria McCloud, is seeking to bypass the UK Supreme Court by appealing to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. McCloud, who was appointed in 2010 and retired earlier this year, is challenging the April ruling that affirmed biological sex as binary, stating, “a person is either a woman or a man.”
The Supreme Court ruling barred transgender-identifying individuals from entering female-only single-sex spaces, even with a gender recognition certificate. Women’s rights group For Women Scotland originally brought the case against the Scottish government, leading to the decision. McCloud’s legal team argues that excluding trans groups, including McCloud, from joining the case amounted to a breach of the right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Despite Brexit, the UK remains bound by the ECHR, since it is a separate body from the European Union. McCloud, formerly known as Dr. Jason Williams, declared in a statement to The Telegraph: “There is no space for decision-making about us, without us. I intend to ensure that there will be no peace for the gender-critical ideological movement, the Labour Government appeasing it, or space in our schools, homes and workplaces for an ideology which causes harm, misery and oppression.”
The appeal has been backed by the Trans Legal Clinic, which has raised approximately £150,000 to fund the case. McCloud will be represented by Oscar Davies, a barrister who self-identifies as non-binary.
Critics have dismissed the appeal as legally unfounded. Maya Forstater, chief executive of the women’s rights group Sex Matters, said the case is “incomprehensible,” noting that the ECHR only hears cases that have exhausted domestic remedies. Since McCloud was not a party to the For Women Scotland case at the Supreme Court, Forstater argued that Strasbourg has no jurisdiction: “It’s a fantasy that someone can go straight to Strasbourg to complain that the Supreme Court in their own country didn’t listen to them.”
If the ECHR were to intervene, it could mark one of the most significant international overreaches into British law since Brexit, rivaling its 2022 injunction against the UK’s Rwanda asylum plan. The Labour government, despite having reluctantly supported the Supreme Court’s affirmation of biological sex earlier this year, may quietly welcome European backing to appease its progressive base.
McCloud has a history of advocacy on transgender legal issues. In 2020, McCloud criticized the UK’s deed poll system for name changes, arguing that publishing records of legal name changes online “outs” individuals by permanently exposing their previous identities.
