With the general election now just days away, members of the LGBTQ+ community have shared what they think politicians should know about queer voters.
We took to the streets with a camera to ask LGBTQ+ pedestrians to share messages and top tips for powers that be, as the country prepares to go to the polls.
Here’s what people on the streets of Manchester had to say.
‘Put it on the Hogwarts Express’
One person said: “There’s no point changing policy [that affects] the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for a small sector of JK Rowling fans. Diva, pack it up, put it on the Hogwarts Express, I don’t want it.”
They went on to say that they wished politicians knew that “the whole transphobia thing is a sector of people who are just really loud”.
‘Queer people are just normal people’
Another said: “I wish politicians knew that queer people are just normal people, and there’s not some sort of LGBT agenda going on, it’s not being pushed on anyone.”
Someone else pleaded: “Just let them be,” while a third said: “I think they need to know people… they need to know us, they don’t know us, but they don’t know normal people and that’s across the board whether you vote Tory or Labour.”
‘Treat them as people’
An ally said: “I would love them to treat them as people” and for the community not to be “othered”, adding, “If we can research things on them, then they can research things on us. Ask about things that matter to everybody. Everyone’s got rights. Be inclusive of everybody, we’re in 2024, it’s all about inclusivity now.”
This year, for the first time, voters in a general election will be required to bring photo ID to polling stations. In a bid to encourage trans and non-binary voters to exercise their democratic right, PinkNews teamed up with the Electoral Commission to ensure voters are fully informed about what identification is acceptable on 4 July.