What are the big issues that need fixing for the LGBTQIA community over the next four years? The Labour MP has her say
BY NANCY KELLEY
When I talk to Kate, she’s getting ready to move offices, already half packed and wondering what her new work home will look like. She’s in an upbeat and thoughtful mood, making the mental adjustment from opposition to government.
I ask her about her vision for the years ahead: “As a Labour government we’ve got a massive job on our hands haven’t we? We’ve got so much to fix… We’re now in a position where we can change the conversation and make more positive things happen for the community.”
Kate is a longstanding advocate for disadvantaged communities and after years of sitting on the Women and Equalities Select Committee, has thrown her hat in the ring to become Chair in the new parliament. It’s no surprise at all: equality and justice run through her conversation like the letters in a stick of rock, whether its workers’ rights, women’s rights, or LGBTQIA rights.
“I don’t like injustice or inequality, and so naturally I’ve always fought for those who are a minority and need allies and a voice. Someone asked me recently why I bang on about the trans community so much and to me that’s obvious – we need to support our trans community, and why wouldn’t we?” She tells me.
Kate’s journey into politics was a traditional Labour one: working in the Trade Union movement, sitting on committees, serving as a local councillor for a decade. We talk about the way in which Labour and the Trade Union movement are interwoven, for Kate, a family: “This Saturday I’ll be at Durham Miners Gala, and one of the things I’ll be sharing is that we’ll be sorting out the miners pension – there’s an example of what the union movement and the Labour party can do!” Becoming an MP felt like a natural progression for her, “I’d been speaking up wherever I could – and what bigger voice than speaking up for 70,000 constituents in this place – I’m very proud to do it.”
Kate is “out and proud and always have been” and speaks with real gratitude about the support she has always had from friends and family in her very public and pressured role. She’s also open about some of the challenges: “MPs like myself receive so much abuse – I get a certain amount of abuse as an MP, its increased by the fact I’m a woman and then of course even more so being an out queer woman. Parliament can be a difficult place to be sometimes, but I’m very privileged to be able to speak out. A voice not only for my constituents but for LGBTQIA people.” She also gently calls some of her peers in – saying that more MPS need to “stand up and do” when it comes to LGBTQIA rights.
I ask her about the big issues that need fixing for the LGBTQIA community over the next four years, and she’s immediately ready with a list. But she opens with a broader point about “culture war” politics:
“The vile rhetoric around trans people, doesn’t need to change, it just needs to go away. It’s what people do isn’t it? Divide and conquer, point the finger at the minorities and blame them for everything.”
Kate is passionate about Labour keeping its promise to implement a fully trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, and about investment in health: from trans healthcare and equal access to fertility services to mental health care for LGBTQIA people, who live with twice the level of risk compared to our peers. She is clearly determined that Labour’s broad legislative programme will deliver for the LGBTQIA community.
She pauses, “I don’t know Nancy – you tell me – it’s my job to listen to people.” And then she actually listens as I talk through my perspective on what Labour can and should deliver for LGBTQIA people. I get the sense that I’m just adding more fuel to the fire of this backbench powerhouse.
Kate Osborne is the Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East. This interview is the first in a series exploring the experiences and perspectives of LBQ+ women MPs in the new parliament.
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