Pioneer judge: UK is going backwards on trans rights

Young trans people face a "very difficult and dangerous period" because the country has gone backwards in its attitudes, Britain's first transgender judge has warned.

- EMMA HENDERSON

High-profile debates over gender recognition and single-sex spaces have reversed public tolerance and increased abuse, according to Victoria McCloud, who served on the bench for more than a decade until returning to the bar earlier this year.

She was speaking to The Independent at the start of Pride Month and as she is recognised in this year’s Independent Pride List, which celebrates Britain’s top 50 LGBT+ changemakers. New Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa, former footballer Alex Scott, All of Us

Strangers actor Andrew Scott and Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting join her at the top of the annual list, published today.

It comes as transgender issues become caught up in pre-election culture wars, with the recent ban on puberty blockers, and Conservatives threatening to ban trans people from their chosen NHS wards – even though polls show the wider public has little interest.