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# Gscene profiles some of our new LGBTQ+ MPs
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/gscene-profiles-some-of-our-new-lgbtq-mps-3/
- Published: 2019-12-23T08:19:49.000Z
- Updated: 2019-12-20T11:20:28.000Z
- Description: Gscene profiles some of our new LGBTQ+ MPs
- Author: Scene Editorial Team

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dlmnfhnxuaasvq2.jpg)

****As the newly elected parliament is opened, over the coming days we will be profiling some of the new LGBTQ+ MPs who have been elected to the House of Commons.**

**Their inclusion on our site does not indicate that they campaigned on LGBTQ+ issues, although we will report as such if they have, but that they are openly ‘out’ and as such have the opportunity to represent our broadening communities in parliament.**

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/a-higginbotham.jpg)

Antony Higginbotham was 29 years old when newly elected as the Conservative MP for Burnley Lancashire. A constituency that had not returned a Tory politician in more than 100 years. He turned 30 this week. Born in nearby Haslingden, he campaigned on a pro-Brexit platform in an area that voted almost 67% in favour of leaving the European Union in the [2016 referendum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%5FUnited%5FKingdom%5FEuropean%5FUnion%5Fmembership%5Freferendum?ref=scenemag.co.uk). He is the first Conservative MP for the constituency since Gerald Arbuthnot in 1910\. Previously working as a banker in London, he unsuccessfully contested the Peninsula ward in the 2018 Greenwich London Borough Council election returning to his home turf to represent the Conservatives in 2019.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/anthony-higginbotham.jpg)

Although Higginbothan **did not** campaign on LGBT issues he is listed amongst the **Conservatives LGBT+** published candidate profile, although he may have his work cut out locally. Former Liberal Democrat MP for the town **Gordon Birtwistle** was a rare breed within the Lib Dem party in voting *against* same sex marriage. Describing ‘gay’ marriage as “just not on” won him support in the town and he was the elected MP there from 2010 until 2015.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/b8604ba4-25e7-434d-90ba-98859dac8bda1.jpg)