Nadia Whittome is the recipient of the GAY TIMES Honour for Future Fighter.
The 27-year-old has continued to define a new era of MP and brought a meaningful LGBTQIA+ representation to the hallowed halls of Westminster. At just 23, Whittome was elected to represent Nottingham East during the 2019 general election.
Since then, she has continued to be a stoic member and ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. But don’t be mistaken, she confides in her new GAY TIMES cover interview that “it’s not necessary to feel comfortable” to be an MP that fights for change.
Her political agenda consists of challenging social injustices, fighting for refugees to be treated with dignity, an all-inclusive ‘conversion-therapy’ ban and equal parity for trans people.
Intrinsic to her work is the “amplifying the voices of marginalised people and their demands”. This includes calling on the government to condemn rising hatred towards LGBTQIA+ people, urging those in power to reduce waiting times for gender-affirming healthcare and speaking out about the importance of defending the Equality Act.
Part of education for her Westminster colleagues was to host people “whose actual lives are being impacted by anti-trans rhetoric and by the policies that end up being spoken about in such an abstract way” – including youth climate strikers, sex workers and young trans people.
Unique to her arsenal is her ability to galvanise people through social media, to articulate key ideas and reach her constituents in a new way. She continues to represent a change of guard and provides hope for many who have grown a political apathy in the country’s current political climate.
Whittome recalled how “lovely getting messages from young queer people, especially Asian girls and people like me, who say that they feel represented by the work that we’re doing, not just by the fact that I’m a young queer woman of colour.”
Part of her pledge to her constituents includes retaining just £35,000 of her £86,000 yearly salary – a figure that keeps her in line with the national average – donating the rest to local causes and charity instead.
“I’m not just speaking as me, I’m representing my constituents, which is something much bigger than myself, and also movements that are much bigger than myself. So that also makes it easier to speak out because it’s not really about me,” she explained.
GAY TIMES Honours 2023 celebrates the individuals and organisations who have had a profound effect on the lives of LGBTQIA+ people over the past 12 months.
This year’s line-up of Honourees acknowledges people making huge impact in music, TV, film, community and drag.
The new digital edition of GAY TIMES Magazine spotlights this year’s winners and is available to read now on the GAY TIMES app, Apple News +, Readly and Flipster.
To follow all of the action from GAY TIMES Honours 2023, check out our Instagram @GAYTIMES.
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