Pair of judges included in The Independent’s ‘rainbow list’ of top LGBT people

Lord Justice Terence Etherton and Lord Justice of Appeal Adrian Fulford rub shoulders with Alan Carr and Sue Perkins in newspaper’s rather random list

The task of ranking, in order, Britain’s top lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals cannot be an easy one. But each year the Independent on Sunday puts its credibility on the line and has a go. And each year some lawyers are invariably thrown into the rather random mix.

In the past, top media lawyer and journo David Allen Green and CMS Cameron McKenna partner Daniel Winterfeldt have both featured, alongside Treasury Solicitor’s Department chief executive Sir Paul Jenkins and top judges Lord Justice Terence Etherton and Lord Justice of Appeal Adrian Fulford.

But this year the majority of that quintet has been cast aside, with only Etherton and Fulford holding onto their places in the 2014 “rainbow list” (which was known in previous years as the “pink list”).

Etherton — who in 2008 became the first openly gay judge to be sworn in as a Lord Justice of Appeal, before assuming his current role as Chancellor of the High Court in January last year — rises four places from his 2013 position of 30th in the list to become the nation’s 26th best LGBT person.

Meanwhile Fulford — who was appointed as a Court of Appeal judge in May, having previously spent nine years as a judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague — drops from 46th to 63rd.

Incidentally, actor-turned-politician Michael Cashman topped the list, with other high-profile ranked individuals including journalist Owen Jones (12th), TV presenter Sue Perkins (6th) and comedian Alan Carr (64th).

Rainbow List 2014 [The Independent on Sunday]