Ukip Margate conference: Transgender Kellie Maloney makes emotional speech to delegates

Retired boxing promoter Kellie Maloney received a standing ovation at Ukip's spring conference after giving a moving speech about her experiences as a transgender person.

Maloney hit the headlines last year after it was revealed that she was undergoing gender reassignment surgery and would be no longer called Frank.

She is probably best known for managing former heavyweight world boxing champion Lennox Lewis.

But the ex-Celebrity Big Brother contestant has also been active in British politics, notably as a London mayoral candidate for Ukip.

"I was never treated as the person I am, as a human being. As a woman who needed medical help to correct a gender issue I suffered from birth. I have come to understand and accept myself, with the support and love of my wonderful family," Maloney told the Margate audience.

"What does it mean to be a transsexual? It's a mismatch between one's body and brain."

"What do we feel? Frustration, not being able to be accepted or conform to society and fear of disappointing those that we love."

Maloney went to share stories of some other transgender people and explained the the pressures they have to bear.

She received rousing applause from delegates at the Ukip conference after opening up and Nigel Farage noted at the end of Maloney's speech that his party "is open to everybody".

The speech came after their youth wing's LGBT chair quit the party.

Tom Booker, who founded the LGBT group and has been chief for more than three years, said he could "no longer defend" or campaign for the party.

But the chief of Ukip's youth wing, Jack Duffin, told IBTimes UK that young people in other political parties are treated as "tokens".

"When we see these problems we deal with them. These stories happen to all parties. I'm proud of Ukip because we deal with these issues and don't hide them in our membership and wait for the media to get hold of them," he claimed.

"We promote issues across the board; we don't target any small group or anything but we work with them. We don't target any small minority because that's not the way we operate as a party.

"You'll never see an all-woman shortlist in Ukip because we value everyone on what they bring to the table. We're not a party of tokens. Young people in other parties are just a token - they're just used to go leafleting."