England: Trans judge resigns over fears of dragging judiciary into politics

Master McCloud, 54, told the senior judiciary she was quitting because “I am now political every time I choose where to pee” and that she has been made “a target”.

She was first appointed as a part-time judge in 2006 and became the youngest person appointed to the Queen’s Bench, now King’s Bench, at the age of 40, in 2010.

In a letter this week Master McCloud reportedly told the senior judiciary: “I have reached the conclusion that in 2024 the national situation and present judicial framework is no longer such that it is possible in a dignified way to be both ‘trans’ and a salaried, fairly prominent judge in the UK.”

She said she had become concerned in recent years “about the difficult position which has developed recently for a trans person, such as me, in public life but especially as the only such judge”.

The rise of the “gender critical” movement has meant that “it has been open season on me and others”.

The judge, who plans to formally stand down in April, said she feels that “the dignity of the court as well as personal dignity is at stake”.

She refers in her letter to Rosa Parks, the American civil rights campaigner.

“Rosa Parks’ choice of seat was political because of the colour of her skin,” she said, adding: “More prosaically, for me I am now political every time I choose where to pee. Less prosaically, the judiciary by continuing to let me be a judge is now at risk of being political.”

It had, she said, been “the greatest privilege imaginable” to have served as a judge, but said that privilege “came with the additional responsibility which fell upon me as the first judge from the ‘trans’ community in the UK and globally”.