I’m a trans lawyer, here’s why I’m challenging the UK supreme court’s gender ruling

“We’ve existed for a millennia and want a seat at the table,” says Olivia Campbell-Cavendish, a lawyer and the founder of the UK’s first law firm to specialise in legal help for trans and non-binary people. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/subscribegdn In the aftermath of the UK supreme court’s judgment just two weeks ago – that the word “woman” in equality law refers only to biological sex and does not include transgender women who hold a gender recognition certificate (GRC) – activists and campaigners have been speaking out about the impact on the trans community. Campbell-Cavendish, who says she started the Trans legal Clinic because “the law excludes trans people”, is one of those questioning how the verdict was reached without evidence from a single trans person being heard by the court. Lord Hodge, the deputy president of the court, urged people not to see the decision “as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”. He said all transgender people had clear legal protections under the Equality Act against discrimination and harassment. But Campbell-Cavendish believes the UK is now breaching its obligations under the Human Rights Act – and has launched a legal fund to challenge the ruling. She is not alone. On Tuesday, Victoria McCloud, the UK’s first transgender judge, who is now retired, brought action against the UK for infringement of her human rights. Last year, McCloud sought leave to join the litigation in the supreme court case, brought by the gender-critical campaigners For Women Scotland against the Scottish government. She argued it could significantly affect legal protections for transgender women, but she was rejected. McCloud, now a litigation strategist at W Legal, told the Guardian: “The basis is that the supreme court refused to hear me, or my evidence, to provide them with information about the impact on those trans people affected by the judgment and failed to give any reasons.” For more details on this appeal to the European court of human rights over the ruling, click here ► https://ift.tt/faBznFq