Staunch trans rights supporter Lorraine Kelly has once again voiced her support for the community, saying: “It’s my duty to stand up.” 

Speaking to the Metro about the 80s HIV/Aids crisis, when the LGBTQ+ community was demonised, the Scottish TV presenter, who in earlier this month called for people to be more “tolerant” of the trans community, said: “I felt it was my duty to stand up and say, ‘No, this isn’t right’.” 

She went on to say that she uses her fame to allow transgender people to share their stories. 

“I don’t like when trans people have to try [to] justify their experience, because no one else has to. It’s really about showing the person behind the label, we’re all far more complex than labels.

“People look at statistics and they don’t see human beings, so that’s my job. The trans community has the odds stacked against them anyway, trying to navigate a new world that’s gone backwards. When I grew up, people in the 70s and 80s were more tolerant about trans than they are now.”

In Kelly’s debut novel, The Island Swimmer, the protagonist’s oldest friend, Freya, is trans, but that is the “least interesting thing about her”, the star went on to say. 

“Anyone who is frightened of trans people could sit down with Freya, if she were real. They’d change their mind.” 

‘We’re all people trying to get on with our lives’

Lorraine Kelly previously threw her support behind the trans community on chat show Late Night Lycett.

“It’s been so toxic. Everybody’s different, we have to treat (people) as individuals, she told comedian Joe Lycett. “I’ve got trans friends who knew when they were three… then there are other people who maybe it was a bit more difficult for them.

“But at the end of the day, we just need to have more kindness, more compassion, and stop throwing rocks at one another. We’re all just people trying to get on with our lives.”

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