THIS WOMAN'S WORK

As the only openly lesbian member of the Welsh Parliament, North Wales's Hannah Blythyn is already one of a kind. Now she's on a mission for a total ban on so-called 'conversion therapy' in Wales - and to make it Europe's most LGBTQ+-friendly country, as Attitude discovered

- Jamie Tabberer

Part hipster log cabin, part gleaming spaceship, Cardiff's Senedd building, home of the Welsh Parliament, is one of the most fantastically strange buildings in the UK. Opened in 2006 at a cost of £69.6 million, it's a fittingly dynamic home to such a young government (voters opted for devolution in a 1997 referendum) and a far cry from the imposing, pompous, ugly buildings of storied governments elsewhere. Glass walls mirror the country's 'transparent' democracy. Inside, surfaces like Welsh slate and red cedar wood beg to be touched. It's an intimate, inviting environment that becomes positively womblike in the underground debating chamber, the circular shape inferring equal status among Members of the Senedd (MSS) and supposedly making debate less confrontational.

"You're clearly going to have your differences in the chamber. I have a very different political position than some of my colleagues, particularly the Welsh Conservatives," says Hannah Blythyn, the Welsh Labour Member of the Senedd for the Delyn constituency, and the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership since 2021. "But you see each other and have a relationship in passing because there's not enough of us [to avoid each other]!"

It's true: the government canteen, for example - serving 'Welsh Italian lasagne' with 'Celtic Pride minced beef' on the day of Attitude's visit - is tiny. But the Welsh government's smaller size has its advantages.

"As one of 60 rather than one of 600, you've got much more chance of making a difference," Hannah adds of life as an MS as opposed to an MP. It's a different style of politics - and this softly-spoken 43-year-old is a different type of politician, amid a tidal wave of post-Trump attention-seekers.