A young green activist born in the heart of republican west Belfast is to make history as the first transgender person to stand in an election anywhere on the island of Ireland.

Ellen Murray, who made the transformation from male to female, will represent the Green party in one of the most contentious constituencies in Britain or Ireland.

The 22-year-old is standing in West Belfast – her home constituency – an area dominated by Sinn Féin and once represented by the party’s leader, Gerry Adams.

Murray told the Guardian she decided to put herself forward because of the “continued homophobia blighting local politics”.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is still not legal. Unionist parties at Stormont, and particularly the Democratic Unionist party, have blocked legislationin the regional parliament aimed at making LGBT marriages equal in law. DUP politicians have also stirred controversy by denouncing homosexuality as being anti-Biblical and sinful.

Arriving at a Belfast hotel on a traditional black delivery-boy-style box bike, Murray admitted she had concerns standing for the Greens as an openly transgender young woman.

“Of course there were bullies both in school and more recently online directing abuse at me. Yet the surprising thing is that since I came forward about standing for election even some of the people who used to bully me at school have got in touch. They said that they want to work on my campaign and said they thought it was great I was going forward for election,” Murray said.



However, she said her greatest supporters since