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Admiring the beauty of his surroundings, you could be forgiven for thinking Dominic Clare James Horsman doesn’t have a care in the world.

But this is a man aiming to make history in less than three weeks’ time.

Not only is Dominic the first ever transgender candidate to fight for a North East seat at the forthcoming General Election, he’s hoping to win it.

Gunning for Green party success in North West Durham, he is one of nine transgender candidates standing nationally - four for the Greens, three Lib Dems and two Labour.

Dominic is only the second ever trans man - a person who has transitioned from female to male - to contest a seat for the UK Parliament.

It’s a fact that even he admits makes him “nervous”.

(Image: newcastle chronicle)

But Dominic makes a direct link between his transformation to his desire in politics to speak up for people whose voices aren’t heard.

“I’m standing as part of a community that has never been represented in Parliament. That for me is the important thing. Representation in Parliament matters. Your voice matters,” he says, sitting in the Durham’s Palace Green sunshine.

“So many people in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, people who live far away from London, people from North West Durham, get told politics is for other people.

“That decisions are for other people, not you. That’s wrong.”

While he originally comes from the Durham area - he has family in Crook and Willington - Dominic says he “moved around a lot” ending up in London. He said he was an “on-off” member of the Labour party from 2003 tro 2010.

“I voted Lib Dem in the 2010 election for tactical reasons and we all know how that one ended. You can say I fled the country afterwards,” he added ruefully.

He took a job in Japan where he stayed until 2013 before returning to the United Kingdom.

“When I came back I realised I was transgender,” Dominic said.

Asked how, he explained: “It’s the way a lot of us do. We spend our life thinking something isn’t quite right but you don’t know what it is.

“It gets to a point where you’ve spent so long feeling ignored that something snaps.

“At that point there was enough in the media to realise I was transgender.

“It might sound ludicrous but until then I didn’t know ‘trans men’ existed. All the time I was growing up, whenever transgender was mentioned it was trans women.

“I didn’t realise it went the other way, I didn’t realise this was an option and that you actually might be a man.”

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Dominic spoke of the enormous pressures action against trangender people.

“But you realise deep within yourself that that is who you are. It’s an act of faith to stand up against everybody who says ‘don’t be ridiculous’.

“You tell them ‘this is who I am’.”

And it was in Durham he transitioned.

“It’s was a long drawn out process. You change very gradually so people’s attitude to you changes gradually and you eventually grow into who you are.”

Dominic revealed it was while in hospital that he switched from Labour to the Greens, a party he says has an ethos of “radical local democracy”. In short, providing the ability to change your own destiny.

“This is the key to my politics,” he said.

“It was a combination of feelings. Coming to Durham and feeling I was in an environment where I wasn’t being listened to politically - that’s something a lot of people in North West Durham feel.

“That they’re a long way away from the politicians who don’t take into account what we want from our lives.

“It was a combination of this political feeling and the personal one that I had just taken the ultimate step in radically changing my own destiny.

“I know that sounds over-the-top but it was a big deal for me.”

And the final push to stand came on April 18 - Dominic’s 39th birthday - when Theresa May announced there would be a snap General Election.

“I was sitting in my living room. I was looking at the options and I thought I can’t vote for any of them,” he said.

There was no Green party candidate and so he put himself forward and was selected.

Dominic has now hit the campaign trail with some gusto ahead of June 8’s vote.

While the North East is seen as Labour’s heartland, character wise it has the reputation of being somewhat conservative with a small ‘c’.

But how have North West Durham voters reacted to having a transgender candidate?

Dominic said the reaction has been positive.

He said: “There are stereotypes that simply aren’t true.

“I transitioned in Durham. People have been welcoming and open in my entire time transitioned. I have had issues but never in and around Durham.

“The worst situation that ever happened was last year when I got abuse on the Metro in Newcastle. The police were wonderful and dealt with it and it’s been resolved.

“But the thing about trans people and LGBT people is we’re not some kind of invention of a metropolitan elite. We’ve always been here - as part of people’s families, as part of people’s communities, we didn’t huddle in ghettoes, we’re just here.”

Dominic is a researcher at Durham University, specifically about ‘quantum computing’.

“My work is to build the next generation of computers,” he said.

“I’m doing the theory of computers that don’t yet exist.”

He predicts the computer of tomorrow will be based in a warehouse and that we won’t see it while users will access it via their mobile phones.

He feels this could become a reality in five years’ time.

Asked how long until the UK’s first transgender MP, he said with a laugh: “I’m hoping June 9.”