The model and transgender rights activist Munroe Bergdorf has stepped down from the Labour party’s LGBT advisory board, after receiving fierce criticism from the right-wing press and some politicians.

Bergdorf was appointed to the unpaid role by shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler last week. In a letter explaining her decision to quit, she said that the panel was intended to be “an informal sounding board to make Ms Butler aware of LGBT areas of concern”, but that she felt that her presence risked “[standing] in the way” of the board’s success.

Several Conservative politicians, including the party’s vice-chair Helen Grant, had called on Butler to reconsider her appointment of Bergdorf. In a letter sent to Butler on 27 February, Grant highlighted comments made by the activist, including her description of the suffragettes as “white supremacists” and calling gay Conservatives a “special kind of d***head”. The Times, meanwhile, published social media posts from Bergdorf in 2010 where she called a Twitter user a “hairy barren lesbian” and joked about ‘gay bashing’ an “annoying” character from Glee (she later apologised for these comments).

Bergdorf said that she decided to quit “due to endless attacks on my character by the conservative right wing press and relentless online abuse”. She added: “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.”

Read more on this story at The Guardian.

Women’s Daily Dispatch: The news you need to know on 6/3/18