HERE we go again. As I sit to write this, I’m contemplating the curse of a Friday newspaper column – a deadline before the close of polls! Over the course of Thursday night as the National goes to press the votes will be counted, successful candidates will give their speeches, and all political parties will contemplate the verdict cast upon us. You all know the results. I’m still door-knocking, campaigning, and hoping. So what on earth do I write about?

Well let’s go out on a limb here and suggest that just possibly, the SNP are still in government and Nicola Sturgeon is still First Minister. There have been political upsets before, but anything other than that result would be like Boris Johnson abolishing the City of London Corporation, George Galloway being seen in public without a hat, or Donald Trump expressing humility.

Beyond that, there are a few issues which will be on the agenda regardless of the election result, and perhaps the best thing I can do without knowing the result is to reflect on how some of those issues stand following the

Holyrood campaign.

This wasn’t the first election for which an LGBT hustings was organised. I took part in one as long ago as 2003, held in the old Gay and Lesbian Centre in Glasgow. There might have been one or two sitting MSPs there, but most parties sent less high-profile candidates. It was a far cry from this year’s event at Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh in which Nicola, Kez, Ruth, Willie and I all took part. Not only was the event taken seriously by all parties, but there was a striking degree of consensus on aspects which even a few years ago would have been dismissed as far too radical for the political mainstream.

This was the first moment at which I felt that trans and non-binary people had a political voice that was being heard at all, and the work of the Equality Network, LGBT Youth Scotland, Scottish Trans Alliance, Stonewall Scotland and the more recently created TIE campaign have been critical in getting us to this point. There was a striking level of agreement that a fresh approach to gender recognition and diversity is needed. Whatever the balance at Holyrood this new approach can progress, but will face prejudice and opposition which all parties must be willing to face down. Dismissing prejudice against LGBT people as a mere “conscience issue” should become as unacceptable as making excuses for racism and misogyny.

We have some way to go till we achieve that, but it’s heartening to know that all parties seem to be moving in the right direction, albeit at different speeds.

Of course, before any new legislation gets going at Holyrood we’ll have another campaign to run, this time for the EU referendum. Polls suggest that a clear majority of Scottish voters will back staying in, but the Scottish result needs to be as strong as possible if we’re going to minimise the chances of a Brexit. More than that, we need to win the case for a progressive Europe which works for people’s workplace rights, for strong environmental regulation, and for a humane response to the refugee crisis. That’s a far cry from the Europe we see today, but having the UK walk out of the door would only take us further away from that positive vision.

Holyrood itself needs a bit of housekeeping too. The scrutiny capacity of our Parliament has been stretched to the limits already, and with new powers coming over issues including income tax and social security, that situation cannot go unchanged. Some people claim that this is purely the consequence of single-party majority government, but it’s not. There were already challenges before 2011, so some reform is needed whether or not the SNP are in that position again. That shouldn’t just be about MSPs though – it should be an opportunity to build new, open and participative systems to bring public voices into politics. That’s what people campaigned for before devolution began – a parliament that shares power with the people. In the early years there were some good efforts to try and achieve that, but in this hyper-networked age I’m convinced we can do better. I hope that all political parties are up for that challenge to ensure the quality of Holyrood’s work is as good as it can be.

Obviously I’m hoping that by the time you read this I’ll be welcoming new Green MSPs to their jobs, and setting about our new priorities for the years ahead. But as I explained you all know the score on that one, and I’ll have to wait. Let me end simply by thanking the many Green activists who’ve given their time and energy over recent months. You’re wonderful!