Sir Alan Duncan suggests there has been a semi-party political debate on trans rights

Following the personal statement issued yesterday by the Conservative MP Jamie Wallis, in which he wrote of his gender dysphoria and became the first ever trans MP, the veteran Conservative Sir Alan Duncan has suggested the trans debate had become ‘semi party political’.

Sir Alan, who stepped down at the last election, previously sat Westminster for 27 years.  He became the first openly gay Conservative MP back in 2002.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme this morning, Sir Alan said, “What Jamie has done is really bridge the political gap, where there has been a semi-party political debate about this, introduce a lot more understanding, and I hope the whole tone of this debate will now become less rancorous, more constructive, and therefore spread understanding”.

Continuing, Sir Alan said, “The vast majority of people find this issue quite perplexing and shy away from even trying to understand it, and I hope what Jamie Wallis will have immediately contributed to that attitude, is an understanding amongst everyone in society that we need to understand this, that we need social acceptance and that we need a framework of law which is fair and reasonable.  And we don’t want rancorous political division dominating a debate that requires sensitive political handling”.

Since his announcement yesterday, Jamie Wallis has received widespread support from across the political divide for the bravery of his announcement.

Duncan, who was previously heavily involved in formulating the Conservative response to civil partnership legislation back in 2004, said of Jamie Wallis, “He has stepped into what is an extremely complicated and rather rancorous debate, and I think his personal example will make a massive contribution, and even this morning he will have begun to made a positive difference to the lives of many other people”.