GIVEN the rightward trend of politics on these islands of ours, it seemed inevitable a General Election campaign would naturally flush the nastiest elements of the British political class into the open – akin to an English water company insisting it is doing its best while repeatedly, unrepentantly, pouring raw sewage into public spaces.

But the unfortunate overlapping of the 2024 General Election campaign with this year’s Pride Month has created a beast altogether more toxic. During a month in which LGBTQ+ people would traditionally celebrate past civil victories, instead we have been the relentless focus of aggressive and expedient disdain.

The so-called “debate” around the lives of transgender people in the UK is not, by any means, a priority for the voting public. Polling suggests, in fact, that it is one of the issues of absolute least concern to voters at a time when the cost of living is spiralling out of control. Yet both Labour and the Conservatives have dedicated time to drilling into the myriad reasons why they believe trans people in Britain should be treated as second-class citizens.

The Conservatives, viewing the issue as a standard for their anti-woke crusade, have retreated into the cruelty that has come to define their party. Labour, on the other hand, have tangled themselves up in trying to say enough to keep the LGBTQ+ community on board, while wholly centring the “gender critical” narrative that trans people effectively pose a threat to the public in one manner or another.

READ MORE: How Labour tried to gag The National with pre-election legal threat

In the past month, Keir Starmer has effectively committed to a new Section 28-style ban on schools being able to teach that trans people exist to students, some of whom will be trans themselves. He has branded such acknowledgements of reality as an “ideology”, much like how the Tories used threats of the “gay agenda” to block the teaching of queer identities before them.

He has disregarded experts in favour of reaching out to millionaires like JK Rowling who, let’s be frank, have no expertise or even basic empathy when it comes to the subject.

Despite its unpopularity in the real world, outside of the gotcha questions of right-wing pundits, Starmer and Sunak alike have used my community as a political football, appealing to a minority group of hacks and anti-trans activists whose access to media and influence far outweighs their numbers; having let this beast out of the cage, it isn’t a topic they could have avoided even if they wanted to.

And through every headline, and guddled manifesto commitment, the voices of trans people are entirely absent – not that that hasn’t stopped us from being blamed for constantly being in the spotlight. Believe me, I’d rather we weren’t written about so obsessively too.

(Image: Jane Barlow)

We are expected to sit at the sidelines as our lives and identities are discussed by bullish commentators with barely a passing understanding of the subjects they obsessively discuss – and more than that, they expect us to be polite even while they disgustingly liken us to sexual predators.

In its lengthy breakdown of where each party stands on “women’s rights and gender identity”, the BBC frames each party’s stances solely through the lens of gender-critical campaigners. There is no question raised over the false claim that trans rights and women’s rights are in conflict.

And in Labour’s noted paragraphs, the writer dedicates a significant portion to Rowling’s interventions in the debate, and her criticisms of Starmer. At no point in this lengthy piece, by the supposedly neutral state broadcaster, are any trans voices or LGBT charities given any opportunity to share criticisms of the parties’ paltry offerings.

David Tennant’s now famous speech at the British LGBT Awards – in which he said that the anti-trans Kemi Badenoch should “shut up” – has drawn ample, hand-wringing tone policing from Labour who have said that Tennant should have been more “respectful” while criticising the Equalities Minister.

READ MORE: Why LGBT Youth Scotland is letting trans teens tell their own stories

But rather than holding that same standard to Rowling herself after she glibly referred to trans people as the “Gender Taliban”, Starmer instead invited her to meet with him to discuss what he could do to assuage her concerns that Labour might accidentally treat trans people with a shred of dignity.

The Conservatives offer nothing to LGBTQ+ people this election. Labour offer barely more. And while the SNP are better overall, Swinney’s statement at Edinburgh Pride – that he wants nothing to do with anyone trying “to turn minorities into enemies” – feels rather hollow while his own deputy leader praises Rowling for her stance and claims she shares her views.

All in, this has been a dire election for queer Scots; the kind of election that we will look back on with disgust, as we did when, in 1983, the Liberals ran a campaign that claimed there was a “straight choice” between their candidate and veteran gay rights activist Peter Tatchell who was running for Labour. I see no difference between this and Rishi Sunak’s quips about his opponents “not knowing what a women is”.

For the Nasty Party, none of this will stand out in future. These words and campaigns will simply settle among a stained history of bigotry and the weaponisation of queer people that has always been at the core of their ideology. But for Labour, the supposed Good Guys(TM), it will be a mark against them that they will never fully expunge. Nor do they deserve to.

This Pride Month has only demonstrated entirely why we still need Pride: nothing will improve under Starmer, and that is why we will remain loud and unapologetic for who we are.