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Maria Munir ( ) is a public speaker and
human rights defender A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing cam ...
who speaks out on a range of discrimination issues, including transgender rights and non-binary discrimination. Munir campaigns to encourage governments to implement policies that do not discriminate against non-binary people.


Activism


Non-binary rights

In April 2016, Munir
came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as non-binary on live television at a question and answer session with former US President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
during his state visit to the United Kingdom. The decision to declare non-binary identity publicly gained media discussion of non-binary rights and Munir was interviewed on the subject by The Guardian, Channel 4, The Telegraph and others. Munir campaigns to raise awareness of the meaning of identifying as non-binary, and campaigns for their rights. In a 2016 interview, Munir said: "At university I came across the idea of being non-binary, and straight away I knew that's me." Munir has campaigned for the UK Parliament to extend the Equality Act 2010 to non-binary individuals.


Facial palsy

Munir was born with unilateral left-sided facial palsy. They created a poster campaign highlighting the symptoms of facial palsy, and worked with Fixers UK to broadcast a segment on the television program ''
Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
'' on
ITV Tyne Tees ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...
about the effects of the condition, and addressed a conference of the Royal Society of Medicine in October 2015, to an audience of paediatricians and other professionals.


Political career

Munir has been an active member of the Liberal Democrats, standing as a council candidate in their home town of Watford in the May 2016 Borough Council election. They stood in the Vicarage ward, a Labour stronghold, coming fourth with 279 votes. Munir campaigned for
Sal Brinton Sarah Virginia Brinton, Baroness Brinton (born 1 April 1955), known as Sal Brinton, is a British politician who served as president of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2020. In November 2010 she was nominated to the House of Lords, taking her ...
's election as the Party Chair, and co-wrote the ''Your Liberal Britain'' strategy for the Liberal Democrats in September 2017 with Elaine Bagshaw, Duncan Brack, Rory Freckleton, Lee Howgate, Scott Smith, and
Stephen Tall Stephen Tall was the most common pseudonym of American science fiction writer Compton Newby Crook (June 14, 1908 – January 15, 1981). Biography Born in Rossville, Tennessee, Crook studied biology at Peabody College, and did graduate work at ...
.


Awards

In 2016 Munir was shortlisted for the Christine Jackson award by the advocacy group Liberty (advocacy group) for their work highlighting the inequality which exists in UK law relating to non-binary people. They were also named as one of 8 Girls' Champions as part of the BBC's 100 Women series. In October 2018 Munir was awarded La Médaille du Barreau by L’Ordre des Avocats de Paris, along with other human rights advocates at the Human Rights Defenders World Summit 2018, symbolising their position as an honorary lawyer for their work.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munir, Maria Alumni of the University of York LGBT rights activists from England Liberal Democrats (UK) politicians Living people Transgender non-binary people Year of birth missing (living people) Women civil rights activists