Two transgender MSPs elected to Holyrood in first for Scottish parliament

Scotland has elected its first two transgender MSPs to the Holyrood parliament.

Dr Q Manivannan and Iris Duane both secured regional list seats for the Scottish Green Party.

Q Manivannan made history when they were elected in Edinburgh and Lothians East on Friday, and their party colleague’s seat in the Glasgow region was confirmed shortly afterwards.

Addressing a crowd of cheering party supporters after the results were announced in Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, Dr Manivannan said: “My name is Dr Q Manivannan, I am a transgender Tamil immigrant, my pronouns are they/them.

Dr Q Manivannan made history when they were elected in Edinburgh and Lothians East on Friday, and their party colleague’s seat in the Glasgow region was confirmed shortly afterwards.Scottish Green Party

“I am to some in this country everything that the hateful despise and I am standing here as your MSP now with care.

“They say politics is the art of the possible, a politics of care I would say expands what is possible for everyone left behind, pushed out or never invited in.”

They added: “Every barrier placed before me with the Greens was the reason also that we pushed further.

“This is what diversity looks like in power.”

Dr Manivannan also thanked their family: “You showed me that home is the place you don’t have to explain yourself, and where you can believe in one another. Thank you.”