A TRANSGENDER lawyer has launched Britain’s first "deadnaming" case in the High Court against Father Ted’s screenplay writer after he referred to her using her birth name.

Stephanie Hayden is suing Graham Linehan, the co-writer of the popular comedy TV series, for defamation and harassment after he allegedly published a series of tweets “deliberately misgendering” her by using her previous male name, otherwise known as “deadnaming”.

Ms Hayden, who is legally female, said Mr Linehan “caused her distress” and that his actions constitute harassment, a misuse of private information, and were a “gross affront to her dignity as a woman".

Ms Hayden, a lawyer and current affairs commentator, was born Anthony Halliday and began her medical transition to a woman in 2007. She was awarded her Gender Recognition Certificate in May 2018.

In the court papers, filed on Monday last week, Ms Hayden alleged that Mr Linehan retweeted material from another account that included photographs of her former male self, her family and friends, as well as suggestions that she was a criminal.