Emily Brothers has hit back after Germaine Greer’s recent appearance at the Cambridge Union.

Speaking on Wednesday night, Labour’s first blind transgender parliamentary candidate used her talk at the Union to highlight the rights of trans people to be protected from ridicule.

Following a policy-oriented talk given to Cambridge University Labour Club, the Labour candidate for Sutton and Cheam drew warm reactions from a quiet union chamber as she veered from the speaking style of a sesasoned politician to paint a personal picture of a woman who has battled with depression and the constant feeling that something did not fit. Brothers was steadfast as she described life’s many challenges. “I use my resilience,” she said.

With regards to Rod Liddle, the Sun columnist who said that she could not know that she was “the wrong sex” because she was blind, she said: “I asked him whether he knows that he is a man when the lights are off,.

Much of Brothers’ address criticised the tabloids and spoke of a constant fear of being “outed” by the media while trying to build a political career. “In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to speak out about my gender identity, because it would be private,” she said. 

Brothers defended freedom of speech, declaring: “I don’t believe in censorship,” but endorsed campaigns like Trans Media Watch that hold the press to account for the bullying and harassment of trans people, and suggested that the press needed to remain independent but required tighter regulation.

When an audience member asked how Brothers felt speaking from the same platform that had hosted Germaine Greer, whose anti-trans views caused further controversy during her Union talk on 26 January, Brothers appeared unruffled and gave her little air time. “We do not deserve ridicule,” she stated emphatically.

Brothers also challenged the audience to question the way people with disabilities are portrayed in the media, describing an incident when she was interviewed for an article, and the editors decided to use a photo of David Blunkett’s dog to accompany it, rather than a photo of Brothers herself.

Reading from notes in braille, Brothers again turned to wit to challenge the unwillingness of the media to promote a positive image of disabled individuals. “I know I’m not glamorous,” she joked.

When questioned by the audience about the upcoming election, Brothers gave a vague but notable suggestion that Labour would consider entering a coalition, but she still emphasised Labour’s ambitions in the election. “We are campaigning for a majority,” she said.

When asked if Ed Miliband was competent as a leader, her response was simply “yes”.

She addressed the question of making politics more appealing to young people with the suggestion that a wider social media presence would attract attention, but quippped: “I suggest some of my shadow cabinet don’t go nightclubbing too often.”

Brothers was scathing about the Conservatives.

When asked if she thought it was possible to be an LGBT Tory, she responded:

“I couldn’t imagine being a Conservative.” She condemned Conservative views that she feels are stagnant, describing their core values as “failed ideas”.

She did, however, recognise that David Cameron had been “brave” in his passing of equal marriage.

Brothers spoke with excitement about the current and future Labour movement as she detailed her memories of the “solidarity” of the picket line in Liverpool during her childhood, and spoke of that same solidarity within Labour today.

Her fight for “social justice” was unapologetic as she claimed Labour would achieve “economic recovery for the many, not the privileged few”.

She closed by extending an invitation to the audience – “Join us on this radical journey”.