Gscene profiles some of our new LGBTQ+ MPs

As the newly elected parliament is opened, over the coming days we will be profiling some of the new LGBTQ+ MPs who have been elected to the House of Commons.

Their inclusion on our site does not indicate that they campaigned on LGBTQ+ issues, although we will report as such if they have, but that they are openly ‘out’ and as such have the opportunity to represent our broadening communities in parliament.

 

Neale Hanvey Initially selected as the Scottish National Party candidate for the seat, Hanvey was later suspended from the party prior to his election and will now sit in Westminster as an Independent. Support for his campaign was officially withdrawn by the party on 26 November after allegations he had previously made anti-Semitic social media posts, in which he compared Israeli treatment of the Palestinian people to the Holocaust. The Labour party however, who narrowly lost the seat, complained that he was continuing to use the SNP colours and was essentially courting SNP supporters.  

He did in fact gain the seat from the Labour Party’s shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Lairdby with a majority of 1,243 votes. 

This has not been his only controversy. In 2018 whilst insisting he was a supporter of trans rights he made a number of statements challenged by trans activists. He claimed that his priority in this debate was that the concerns of women were not being heard:

“I am not trans and I do not believe that anyone can truly comprehend what it is to be trans unless you have that lived experience. I have a huge amount of admiration for trans people and their courage to make, what is an unimaginable journey for me. Indeed as a society we have a shared responsibility to protect and value everyone, and that requires recognising and accommodating difference.”

“The current debate about self ID and gender recognition has been anything but a debate. There is a virulent intolerance from some quarters (albeit a minority) to anyone who does not sign-up to the trans agenda, including attacks on trans women who do not subscribe to the current #TWAW (Trans Women Are Women) narrative. They have told me they feel their identity as a trans woman is being taken away from them.”

But Labour’s Lesley Laird, has called out his comments as “inflammatory” stating:

“Neale Hanvey’s comments have caused upset in our community at a time when we should all be coming together. There is enough division within the country without using inflammatory language in a debate that needs more understanding.”