Two transgender MSPs elected to Holyrood in first for Scottish parliament
Dr Q Manivannan and Iris Duane secured regional list seats for the Scottish Green Party.
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.
“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.”