When I was put in jail I’d been the subject of transphobia and it feels like I’m the subject of transphobia again from the MoJ, which is horrible because it’s my government.” It states that I’m a male, which is a complete insult, humiliating and wrong because I’ve been living as a female all my adult life. Speaking from Belgium, where she lives with her boyfriend, Hudson said: “I was horrified when I read the defence from the MoJ. She spent seven days in HMP Bristol before being moved to a women’s facility, Eastwood Park, after a storm of national protest. Hudson spent six weeks in jail in 2015, after she admitted head-butting a barman.

In response, Hudson’s legal team accuse government lawyers of adopting “transphobic, unnecessarily abrasive, aggressive and insulting” language towards Hudson, who has breasts and has used hormones for years but does not have a gender recognition certificate. They say they have adopted female pronouns when referring to Hudson only “out of respect for her wishes”. They state Hudson “is as a matter of biological fact a man” and add that the term “transwoman” has no legal significance. In court papers seen by the Observer, the MoJ and government lawyers argue that they do not consider Hudson to be a woman despite the make-up artist reassigning her gender and living as a woman for her adult life.

The case will be heard at the Mayor’s and City of London court in April, but Hudson’s lawyers have expressed outrage at the “transphobic and insulting” language used by the government in its response to the allegations. Her lawyers are also seeking a declaration from the court that Hudson was discriminated against, potentially the first time the MoJ has been found guilty of mistreating a prisoner on the basis of gender reassignment.

Arise by tara hudson