Complaints over trans judge taking part in debates on sex and gender
A TRANS judge due to step down in the coming weeks is responsible for ‘engaging publicly and inappropriately in debates on sex and gender,’ it has been claimed.
Victoria McCloud, a High Court master, announced her resignation in February, claiming that she could not stay on the bench ‘in a dignified way’.
Master McCloud, the country’s first transgender judge, wrote ‘I am now political every time I choose where to pee’, in a letter to the senior judiciary.
She went on to liken herself to US civil rights activist Rosa Parks adding it was ‘no longer … possible in a dignified way to be both “trans” and a salaried, fairly prominent judge in the UK’.
Women’s rights campaigners have since written to the Lady Chief Justice and the Justice Secretary calling on them to act ‘to protect public confidence’.
It has emerged Master McCloud is the subject of two complaints to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office relating to claims about her behaviour on social media.
The letter, seen by the Daily Mail, referred to several instances where campaigners believe Master McCloud had breached rules governing judicial impartiality.
Maya Forstater, co-founder of Sex Matters, says in her letter of complaint that the judge has been ‘ engaging publicly and inappropriately in debates on sex and gender’.
Ms Forstater says, in her view, the judge’s posts on social media demonstrate ‘hostility against people with gender-critical beliefs’.
Her letter maintains that Master McCloud brings into question her ‘willingness to comply with the obligations placed on judges’. Ms Forstater also requests the JCIO to intervene so as ‘to protect public confidence in the judiciary’.
She added: ‘I ask you to investigate urgently why there has been no published outcome to the complaints against McCloud, to take steps to make it clear to Master McCloud that this behaviour is not in line with standards of judicial conduct.’
Official guidance for judges says social media ‘should not be used by individual members of the judiciary to communicate publicly about their judicial work, or matters related to the judiciary’.
It also warns judges they face disciplinary action for using their office title on social media. Judicial discipline regulations state investigations into a judge’s conduct must cease once they leave office.
Only the Lord Chancellor or Lady Chief Justice can intervene to continue an investigation in certain circumstances.
Master McCloud transitioned in the 1990s and was the UK’s first practising trans barrister.
She was the youngest Master in the High Court of England and Wales when she was appointed in 2006 as a deputy and then as a full judge in 2010.
The Judicial Office declined to comment. Master McCloud has been contacted for a response to Ms Forstater’s allegations.
‘Standards of judicial conduct’