This is a message from Out for Indy member Amber Roberts. Amber is a trans woman who is working to improve representation and visibility of trans people within the party and in Scottish politics more broadly. She is starting a group for trans SNP members and would love for trans members to reach out to her via her details listed below.

Happy Trans Day of Visibility to all of my Trans Siblings! Today is about making our community more visible – showing that we are human beings and not the monsters some have been making us out to be. We need to show our achievements and how we have overcome the many challenges we are facing on a daily basis. It is important that we continue to have our voices heard when it comes to the issues we face as a community such as Access to Trans Healthcare, the Transphobia we receive, Housing and Employment.

We also need to be taken more seriously when we report Transphobia as a Hate Crime, and the Police are just one of the challenges; a lot of the time they tell us that it’s not a hate crime but rather a hate incident and yet legislation says different. Many Police Officers admit that they do not know what is in the Equality Act, just as one example. So, the Police need to have better training in legislation and then uphold that legislation properly, instead of downplaying the situation.Most importantly, our community needs to be shown that we are valued members of society and that our voices really do matter.

Whilst it is truly appreciated that non-Trans people are doing what they can to represent us, for us to be truly represented, we need to be allowed to represent ourselves especially in parliaments and in governments.  At the moment there is a lack of support offered to Trans People within the SNP and this is something I want to change. I really want to meet every single trans member of the SNP in person and listen to their thoughts and really show them support. I want to offer trans members who are maybe nervous about attending their first branch meeting so that I may go along with them – that they will have someone there who knows exactly how they feel and have a friendly face for those who want the support.

I care deeply about Equality for all and at the moment we have a lot of representation from others under the LGBT+ Umbrella but not a single trans person. It’s the same for the Scottish Parliament. I am happy for any Trans member of the SNP to contact me directly either via email (ambersnp@gmail.com) or on twitter (@AmberRobertsSNP) and work with every member of our community to finally have the representation and support we need.