“Ultimately, just don’t be a Jeremy Hunt.”
Mhairi Black is the youngest MP in the House of Commons and as such carries the unofficial title of ‘Baby of the House’.
However, she is light years ahead of many of her colleagues when it comes to LGBT rights and trans rights in particular.
The SNP representative for Paisley and Renfrewshire South is campaigning for changes to the Gender Recognition Act that will allow trans people to self identify their gender – already an established process in several liberal democracies.
For taking this stance, and declaring it publicly on Twitter, Black receives a torrent of transphobic abuse. The MP says often people “haven’t come on the journey” to understand the trans experience but also highlights “a core of transphobes” trying to attack the existence of this marginalised group.
“In order to get to the kind of society that I think we all want to see, fundamentally it’s got to start with just being nice to people,” Black says. “Ultimately, just don’t be a Jeremy Hunt.”
