Eddie Izzard Eyes Being the First Out Transgender Member of Parliament

Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard hopes to bring his political ambitions to fruition in the next UK election.

In a new profile in the Guardian, Izzard addressed previous comments indicating he would some day enter the political sphere. After talking a bit about the Brexit decision, Izzard confirmed that he wants to run next chance he gets which will be in 2022, five years after Britain’s 2017 snap election.

“The plan was always to run in 2020, though Theresa May has changed that with her failed power grab. So now it’s the first general election after 2020,” Izzard told The Guardian of his political timetable.

Izzard ran and lost for a spot on the Labour Party’s national executive committee in 2016. He indicated that he plans to run again for the committee this year.

Izzard also said that he would give up acting if he were elected.

“I would. It’s like Glenda Jackson; she gave up acting for 25 years to concentrate on it, then she turns up back as King Lear,” Izzard said.

Izzard has said that he’s been out as trans since 1985. In an interview earlier this year with NPR, he said:

“I came out in 1985, and it was very difficult to go out and forge a way out and lock it into your life. Once I did that, once I pushed back on all that fear and hatred and the feelings that society all around the world was saying to me, ‘You’re not allowed to do this, this is wrong,’ and I’m saying it’s built into my genetics and I think I have girl genetics and boy genetics, so I’m going to express them, I’m not going to feel shame or guilt, and that has given me the confidence for everything else.”

There has never been an out transgender member of Parliament. According to PinkNews, seven trans candidates ran in the 2017 election. Sophie Cook, a transgender Labour party candidate, almost clinched the MP seat in East Worthing and Shoreham, but lost.