Munroe Bergdorf, the transgender model and campaigner, has quit as an LGBT adviser to a Labour shadow minister amid a row over her past comments including branding “all white people” as racist.
Announcing her decision on Tuesday morning, the 31-year-old said she had resigned due to “endless attacks on my character by the conservative right wing press and relentless online abuse”.
Bergdorf had been given a position on an advisory panel last week by shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler.
At the time, Bergdorf said she wanted to help Labour “form and push through fairer and more effective policy change”.
Following her appointment, Bergdorf was revealed to have labelled suffragettes as “white supremacists” and said she wanted to “gay bash” a TV actor.
Bergdorf was sacked by L’Oréal last year after amid a backlash over her comments about the “racial violence” of “all white people”. She later said her comments had not been seen in the correct context.
In a post on Twitter today, Bergdorf said: “Following last week’s exciting announcement that I had accepted a place on an LGBT advisory board assembled to offer counsel to Dawn Butler MP, the Labour party’s women and equalities minister, it is with great sadness that I have decided to step down from the position.
“This is a decision that I’ve had to make due to endless attacks on my character by the conservative right wing press and relentless online abuse. I refuse to be painted as a villain or used as a pawn in the press’ efforts, especially those at The Daily Mail, to discredit the Labour Party and push their transphobic rightist agendas.
“I wanted my appointment to be something positive and exciting for the community, but instead it has turned into nasty tabloid fodder, blown out of all proportion.
“This group was assembled to act as an informal sounding board, to make Ms Butler aware of LGBT areas of concern. This was an unpaid position alongside 20+ other activists and community figures. I accepted a place on the board because I felt that it would be an exciting and effective way of helping to shed light on issues that I felt were being overlooked and hopefully push needs forward.
“I will not allow myself to be centred in this negative narrative, but more importantly I don’t want to stand in the way of the board serving as a positive catalyst for change within the UK’s LGBT communities.
She added: “I refuse to be used as a distraction from the upcoming discussions concerning the Gender Recognition Act and the Conservative party’s lack of action on the Racial Disparities Audit.”
It came as HuffPost UK revealed “self-defining” trans women are to be given full rights by Labour, including guaranteed access to the party’s all-women shortlists for Parliamentary selections.
In an historic move, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is set to approve a statement that would allow people to self-identify without the need for medical or other certification that they have changed their gender.