Trailblazing former MP Mhairi Black quits SNP citing the party’s ‘capitulation on trans rights’
Former MP Mhairi Black has quit the SNP over its stance on LGBTQ+ rights (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Former MP Mhairi Black has quit the SNP over its stance on LGBTQ+ rights (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Queer former MP Mhairi Black has left the Scottish National Party (SNP), citing the party’s “capitulation” on trans rights as one of her reasons.
Black announced her decision to leave the party on Friday (25 July), telling The Herald that she was unhappy with the direction that the party had taken, particularly with regards to LGBTQ+ rights, and also Palestine.
“Basically, for a long time I’ve not agreed with quite a few decisions that have been made,” she told the news outlet. “There have just been too many times when I’ve thought, ‘I don’t agree with what you’ve done there,’ or the decision or strategy that has been arrived at.”
She confirmed that to her, the biggest issues with the party had been “the capitulation on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular”, and that she believed “the party could be doing better about Palestine as well”.
Black added that she is “still just as pro-independence”, and is “probably a bit more left-wing than I have been”. In addition, she stated she would seek to support organisations such as the Good Law Project, which has helped to protect trans people’s legal rights in the UK.
Mhairi Black, who was the youngest MP to be elected since 1832 when she first entered parliament in 2015, stepped down as an MP at the last general election in 2024, citing the “toxic environment” of Westminster.
“The entire design of the place and how it functions is the opposite of everything that I find comfortable,” she said in 2023 ahead of stepping down.
The lesbian politician has always been a staunch supporter of trans rights, calling on politicians to “leave them [trans people] the hell alone” in 2023.
“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,” she said at an Edinburgh Fringe event. “I want trans people to be able to live with dignity and happiness, and for newspapers and politicians to leave them the hell alone.”
Black has also previously condemned Labour MP Rosie Duffield’s views on the trans community, as well as defending trans people after author JK Rowling implied that promoting trans rights would lead to the erasure of lesbians.
“The only time I’ve felt erased as a lesbian is when anti-trans activists have shouted me down and sent me the vilest abuse whenever I express support for my trans siblings,” she tweeted in 2020.
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