Trans people should be able to live with ‘dignity and happiness’
Trans people should not be made into an ‘intellectual debate’ and should be able to live with ‘dignity and happiness’, MP Mhairi Black has said.
Speaking at an Edinburgh fringe In Conversation With… event on Tuesday, the SNP MP addressed the toxic nature of debates around trans people and said the media and politicians should ‘leave them the hell alone’.
Mhairi was praised by fellow SNP MP John Nicolson for putting succinctly her thoughts on the trans debate in UK politics and in the media.
He wrote, ‘well said Mhairi’ in reaction to her comments: “I’m a woman, I’m a lesbian, and I want trans people to be able to live with dignity and happiness. There are definitely bad actors at play who are radicalising people who are vulnerable, using this small community as a wedge issue.”’
She went on to say: “It’s been happening since 2016 at least. And if you start tracing it back – all these big names – the money always comes back to sort of fundamental Christian groups in America, Baptist groups, anti-abortion organisations.”
She added: “Being trans is not something to be feared. It’s just an aspect of a human being, the same way being gay is just an aspect of who I am.
“The only place as far as I’m concerned that my sex matters, as opposed to my gender, is in a medical setting. That’s between me and a doctor.”
Black has hit out before at ‘toxic’ fearmongering over trans rights and at opponents spreading ‘misconceptions and outright lies’ about trans people.
In January, Rishi Sunak blocked Scotland’s gender recognition legislation which would make it easier for transgender people to self-identify. Stonewall chief executive, Nancy Kelley said the prime minister’s decision had, ‘allowed trans people’s lives to be used as a political football’.
(Photo credit: Paisley Scotland / Creative Commons)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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