A transgender lawyer has reported a transexual solicitor to the police for "non-stop" harassment and malicious communications on Twitter.

Stephanie Hayden, a male-to-female transgender woman, also sued the transexual solicitor, who goes by the name 'Boudica10' on Twitter, for defamation. Hayden alleged that Boudica10 posted five tweets between 5-13 September containing wording which defamed her by casting doubt on her status as a lawyer.

The Bad Tweets

  • "I rang Cilex. I am not going to repeat publicly what I was able to find out, because I'd no doubt be threatened with libel but Cilex is your answer."
  • "I'm hoping that everyone who has been threatened by this individual comes together with evidence so that we can show the world and especially the legal profession and justice system, how duplicitous they are."
  • "Impersonating a solicitor is an offence...that's why some unqualified lawyers claim to be mambers of Cilex. No risk of prosecution."
  • "Spoken today to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority today in respect of @flyinglawyer73's holding herself out as an authorised and regulated person (an offence under s.20 of the Solicitors Act 1974) and tomorrow I am speaking to the police about her racist tweet and other matters."
  • "My issue with @flyinglawyer73 is solely that she claims to be a lawyer and uses that to shut women down. It's narcissistic and it's abuse."

Hayden claimed the tweets caused serious harm to her reputation by suggesting that she was holding herself out as a solicitor, as well as by causing distress, anxiety, injured feelings, and attracting ridicule and contempt. Hayden also accused Boudica10 of 'deadnaming' her by referring to her former male identity, which she says was a transphobic act intended to cause her distress.

Hayden and Boudica10 first fell out when they were both members of a pressure group called Transexual Voices Matter (TVM). As part of its mission TVM opposed efforts by transgender activists to amend The Gender Recognition Act 2004 to allow people to self-declare their gender. But when a tweet was posted from TVM's account which referred to transgender people as "delusional men in dresses", Hayden complained to Boudica10 and quit the group because, she said, her concerns were ignored. Before shutting down, TVM warned that transgender activists were hijacking the term 'transexual', which has traditionally been used to describe people with diagnosed gender dysphoria who have medically transitioned and live as women, to promote a wider definition that encompasses anyone who identifies as a woman.

heyden

 

In her claim, Hayden accused Boudica10 of being "hostile to transgender women, who have not had genital reconstruction surgery, being considered as women". She said the transexual solicitor was also hostile to the idea that they should have access to women-only facilities or services. Boudica10 told RollOnFriday, "We do clash on exactly that point. As a survivor of male sexual violence I am against male genitals in women's spaces."

Transgender activists have engaged in increasingly high-profile battles with those who object to the definition of 'women' being widened to include people with penises. This week protesters forced the removal of a billboard which displayed a dictionary definition of 'woman', "adult human female", on the grounds that it was transphobic. The Times recently reported that Natacha Kennedy, a transgender Goldsmiths lecturer, "orchestrated a smear campaign" against feminist academics who did not accept that biological males could be women.

Hayden voiced support for Kennedy, tweeting, "It is absolutely right and proper that #transphobic academics are called out!". She has herself called out an academic. In a Twitter thread in September Hayden vowed to sue Dr Deidre O'Neill, an arts lecturer at Brunel University who objects to the transgender line, and report her to her employer for boosting the view that Hayden isn't a lawyer.

Unlike 'solicitor' or 'barrister', 'lawyer' is not a protected term, so claims that Hayden is not a lawyer are perilous. And while Hayden declined to give RollOnFriday details of her degree or other qualifications "due to the harassment I have received", she said that she had considerable practitioner experience in courts, tribunals and as an in-house legal adviser. Hayden said she was also regulated by Cilex for four years, although she relinquished her membership in 2012 for "confidential reasons which did not relate to any disciplinary or other investigation". However, "What I will say is that during a preliminary hearing in the County Court at Leeds on 12 September 2018 HHJ Saffran stated in open court (in relation to myself), 'You clearly are a lawyer'”.

Boudica10 is due to be interviewed under caution by the police. Along with possibly several others:

 

boudica

 

sue

 

penny

 

 

shauna

 

dee

 

Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 28 September 18 09:54

[insert deity here] save us from people with nothing better to do than post comments on the internet. Oh, wait...

Anonymous 30 September 18 03:23

Trans women are not women. They're trans women and that's okay. It doesn't make them less than women, it just means they're different with different needs. The sooner trans activists like Hayden accepts this and stop trying to bend reality the richer their lives will be.

Anonymous 30 September 18 19:17

Why can't women have penises? Are they rationed? Who is anyone else to tell a woman what she can and can't have? If a woman wants a penis she can have one as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous 01 October 18 12:23

The concepts of man and woman are socially constructed so it's perfectly possible to say trans women are women if your requirements for that categorisation are met. Supposedly c.80% of women support the view that trans-women are women so whilst a person doesn't have to recognise them as such it's very much a minority view outside this forum (which appears to be owned or moderated by transphobes judging from the treatment of this subject on the board and the crafting of the Terms of Use which noticably do not include transphobic discussion amongst other forms of hatespeech).

Anonymous 01 October 18 20:19

@Anonymous 01 Oct 18

"The concepts of man and woman are socially constructed"

Are you serious? Do you think a vagina, a uterus and a penis are "socially constructed"? What planet do you live on?

Also, please quote the sources for your statistics. Given that the majority of people in this world either live in highly conservative countries or in such countries where people have a religion that does not recognise trans people, I sincerely doubt that 80% is a correct figure.

Anonymous 01 October 18 23:26

Loving the disapproval of those who figure they have some entitlement to dictate what women do with their bodies.

Lydia 03 October 18 12:44

It is certainly an issue getting people hot under the collar. I always come down on the side of free speech. let people mostly say what they like - that I am a man (often eben said because I like money, power success and out earning men and some people think women aren't like that!! or that women have to wear make up) or whatever but most of us know you aren't a woman in law until you follow the full rules under the law which I support.I don't support the proposed changes to those laws.

 

However this seems to be more about who can call themselves a lawyer. Lawyer can be used by just about anyone as it is not a protected word. I do think the Law Society and SRA should do a much better job at making it clear what "solicitor" means. Any Tom Dick or Harry (all puns and gender implications intended.....) can call themselves a lawyer, even your cat's mother but they can't say solicitor. The public don't understand that.

Someone who is ex cilex regulated can almost certainly call themselves a lawyer although they cannto do reserved work etc

 

The big problem we have is the public think lawyer means solicitor or barrister and it doesn't. It can mean any intellectual challenged numpty who couldn't pass hard exams and has bad A level grades etc etc

 

We just need better advertising eg SRA posters say -

"ABC may say they are a "lawyer"   but they aren't a solicitor. Here are the differences...."

Kev 07 October 18 13:14

Ms Hyaden needs to grow up. There are more important issues in the world than your tantrums; just because everybody doesn't see the world your way. Stop being a fool and do something more constructive.

Hanna 10 February 19 10:02

This is very scary. If someone disagrees with you, automatically sue. Is that not an abuse of the law? I am all for free speech and nobosy should be abused verbally, mentally or physically. Surely common sense should prevail. As a woman there are alot of men especially in the work place I should of sued and b**chy women. Hell even sue the cash till people for some comments they've made in the world.  

@Hanna 22 February 19 22:36

Not an abuse of the law, but a very expensive past time for sure. Friviolous litigation can be chucked out of court. 

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