In the early hours of this morning, Jamie Wallis, Conservative MP for Bridgend and Porthcawl, tweeted a statement in which he revealed that he is transgender.
This revelation makes Wallis the first openly trans member of the UK parliament. We have had transgender parliamentarians before – Nikki Sinclaire (then a UKIP member of the European Parliament) disclosed that she is transgender in 2013 – but Wallis will be the first to sit in the House of Commons.
Although coming out is usually a cause for celebration, the conditions surrounding Wallis’s disclosure are awful. His statement mentions an attempt at blackmail, where he was threatened with being outed as trans before he was ready. Wallis also revealed that he is a rape survivor and has PTSD. It is clear that Wallis’s coming out has come under horrific circumstances and he deserves support and privacy in this, both liberating and stressful, time. I wish Wallis the best in his transition, whatever form it takes.
