A TRANSGENDER woman has hit back at comments made by a Wiltshire councillor, who refused to support a grant for Salisbury Pride.

As previously reported, councillor Mary Douglas rejected a motion to award £1,000 to the annual Pride event, adding the LGBTQ+ community is “misguided by a powerful ideology”.

Responding before Cllr Douglas was stripped of portfolio role, transgender woman and activist Katie Yeomans, aged 67, described the comments as “negative and bigoted”, adding: “I am not surprised to read what [Cllr Douglas] said and I think it’s her Christian beliefs getting in the way of the reality of life.”

Katie, who started her transition in 2014, has responded to comments made by Cllr Douglas in the past, including visiting her in 2017 after she linked being transgender with mental health issues on Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Even her own colleagues within the council separated themselves from her comments [in 2017] so I do not believe she has the support she says, neither do I believe she understands LGBTQ+ issues,” Katie added.

“Many towns have Pride events and they grow bigger by the year. They are held to celebrate the journey of the LGBTQ+ community, but everyone is made welcome and it helps non-LGBTQ+ people really understand what issues we face on a daily basis.

“As a transgender woman I have faced hate crime and discrimination, luckily I have the strength to challenge it in a positive way and believe I have helped paved the way for changes.

"There is still a great deal of misconceptions about transgender people.”

Speaking after the news of Cllr Douglas’ sacking from her portfolio role, Katie added: “I am actually surprised [Mary Douglas] is still a councillor. I think that all people are entitled to express their own opinions, but she should not have used her role as councillor to give such biased and negative views.

"It is good something has been done but I can’t believe she is still a councillor.”

Cllr Douglas did not wish to respond to the comments.