A Tyneside MP has spoken out over the sexist and homophobic abuse she receives - and slammed whoever was behind anonymous offensive flyers she spotted in her Jarrow constituency last week.
Kate Osborne, who has been an MP since 2019, was out and about in Jarrow when she spotted the derogatory flyer attached to a lamppost. The leaflet attacked Ms Osborne's politics and also used a homophobic slur. ChronicleLive has chosen not to repeat this.
In response, Ms Osborne shared an image of the leaflet on social media and slammed how freely some abuse public figures. She shared the tweet, and said: "Been a great week in my fabulous Jarrow constituency, but sadly like most MPs I get abuse on socials & in real life usually sexist & homophobic. I will always take abuse seriously & refer to police when necessary (I'm actually in court later this month) but I won't let it stop me."
Talking to ChronicleLive, she said she had chosen to highlight the incident to share how common abuse like it is - and to call it out publicly. Previously, analysis of abusive messages sent to MPs found that figures such as Diane Abbott - the former shadow home secretary and an MP in Hackney, London - received reams of racist abuse.
Ms Osborne has highlighted that people - in 2022 - still feel comfortable sending vile racist, sexist and homophobic abuse to people they do not know. She said: "I don't know whether I get more or less than other MPs, though I think women often get more than men. and of course I get a fair undercurrent of homophobic stuff.
"I wasn't sure whether to put it out. I decided I wanted to do so and I tried to make a more serious point about how we just simply shouldn't have to deal with this kind of thing. Some of the things I and others receive are horrendous and I felt we have to call it out."
However, in response to her posts on social media, Ms Osborne said she had been deluged with support. "The messages in response have been really fantastic," she added. "There have been literally just one or two [abusive ones] amongst thousands of supportive messages. It does show that these people aren't the majority.
"I wanted to highlight how ridiculous that was without making too much light of it. But I also wanted to say: 'I'm not going to let this stuff get to me. It deserves to be treated with contempt."
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