Munroe Bergdorf: L'Oreal model resigns from Labour party LGBT+ board following 'relentless online abuse'
'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'
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Your support makes all the difference.A transgender former L’Oreal Paris model who was sacked by the cosmetics giant for her comments about systemic racism has stepped down from her position on a Labour advisory panel for LGBT+ issues.
Munroe Bergdorf was asked to sit on an advisory board by Labour front-bencher and shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler.
Bergdorf said "endless attacks" on her character by the "right wing press" and vitriolic abuse on social media had forced her to resign from the position.
Bergdof said it was with "great sadness" that she decided to leave the post in a lengthy statement.
"Following last week's exciting announcement that I had accepted a place on an LGBT advisory board assembled to offer counsel to Dawn Butler, the Labour party's women and equalities minister, it is with great sadness that I have decided to step down," she said.
"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."
Last week, a spokesperson for Ms Butler said: “Dawn is proud to stand with those challenging discrimination. Dawn will consult with the LGBT+ advisory group on a wide-range of LGBT+ issues.”
But Bergdorf's appointment to the role saw Conservative Party vice chair Helen Grant write to Ms Butler and call on her to "reconsider".
Ms Grant said language used by the campaigner "damages the campaign to promote equality".
The Tory MP referred to old tweets which said the suffragettes were “white supremacists who were fighting for WHITE women’s rights” and another in which she called gay Tory activists a “special kind of d***head”.
In a series of Twitter posts last week, Bergdorf said: "On gay male Conservatives, whereas the language that I used was strong and perhaps I wouldn't use that turn of phrase now.
"I do continue to be confused by how somebody who identifies as a gay male can actively support a political party such as the Conservatives."
She also claimed the initial conditions placed on female enfranchisement "stood in the way of working-class women and largely women of colour".
Bergdorf's role as part of a group advising Ms Butler was unpaid and the panel itself is not managed by Labour.
The model made headlines last year after she called on people to boycott L’Oreal after being sacked over a Facebook post she wrote in response to the killing of an anti-racism demonstrator at a white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, US.
The model wrote: “Honestly I don’t have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people.
“Because most of ya’ll don’t even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour.
“Your entire existence is drenched in racism. From micro-aggressions to terrorism, you guys built the blueprint for this s***.
“Come see me when you realise that racism isn’t learned, it’s inherited and consciously or unconsciously passed down through privilege.
“Once white people begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth... then we can talk.”
The model later clarified her comments in an interview with the The Guardian, saying she had written an “epic three-parter” on how “racism is a social structure and how, if this is the case, what can you do to combat racism?”
She said her mother was angry about her post, telling the paper: “That was an awful conversation. I’m half-white. My mum thought I was lumping her in with everyone, but this isn’t about individuals.
“To understand my point, you have to take yourself out of the conversation – it’s not about you – and truly think about society, structurally, economically, as a whole.”
Monre was named the "face of modern diversity" after becoming the first trans model to appear in one of L'Oreal's campaigns.