I’ve had the right to vote for forty years but for 20 of those, as an employee of the government, I rarely used that right and that didn’t change much after I left, some 18 years ago. The polarisation of politics in the UK, particularly England, didn’t help. Locally there was a regular fight between the town council and district or county, and that definitely didn’t help my disillusionment.
Scroll forward to 2024 and I am truly frightened by certain alarmist, opportunist, policy announcements by the two major parties. These policies are targeting transgender people, including myself, with extreme restrictions against trans children under questionable guidance. As someone who finally transitioned in 2023 I had decided neither Labour nor Conservatives can be trusted to accept that I have the right to exist in society. The LibDems seem to be unsure about most things.
That led me to the Greens, who have a trans-inclusive policy as well as a range of policies on the environment, economy, internationalism, education etc that would mostly coincide with my own ‘liberal’ (small L) views.
Locally my head is over the parapet – both before and after transition – and I am often involved in events and projects with town/district councillors. I have always carried this as a non-aligned person but will that change? I don’t know, but it would probably be naive of me to assume my social media announcement earlier this week wasn’t noticed locally!
So, as I have said publicly (Twitter/X link), “When it comes down to community I am a firm believer that party allegiances shouldn’t interfere with whatever is best for the community. The colour of your rosette is irrelevant so long as you respect everyone’s right to exist.”
Update 24 May 2024: A General Election was called 2 days ago, giving the country just 6 weeks to organise themselves for a better future – hopefully. As I said above, my personal circumstances led me to go Green but that’s my decision. I also happen to think that the Green Party’s healthcare, education, transport, finance etc policies make sense.
Now, do I have a subtle green frock to be seen in?
Update 2024/07/11:
The election was a week ago and there’s now 4 Green Party MPs in Parliament! Oh, I did wear green as promised!
