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Tag: Non Binary

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  • Piers Morgan wishes non-binary and Gender Fluid people a Merry Christmas

    In stark contrast to his usual rhetoric, the Good Morning Britain presenter wished members of gender non-conforming community a Merry Christmas.

    From ITV Studios | © ITV

    In the last Good Morning Britain of 2018, Piers Morgan wished a Merry Christmas to non-binary and genderfluid people. Piers who has been critical of the non-binary activists in recent years, was showing off pre-written cue cards in homage to the famous Andrew Lincoln Love Actually scene, where the actor holds up cards explaining his true feelings to co-star Keira Knightley.

    On one of the cards that Piers holds up on the ITV morning show, “Love to every gender fluid, non-binary individual out there, Merry Christmas” was written before the punchline, “P.s. BBC Breakfast Sucks”.

    BBC Breakfast is a competing show on BBC One.

    Seemingly a genuine gesture, Piers holds up a card acknowledging the Gender Fluid and Non-binary community.

    Before the butt of the joke is revealed – that he thinks that BBC Breakfast ”

    Snow MEN not Snow People

    Earlier this year the presenter went on a tirade against Children’s TV presenter, 20-year-old Catie Munning, who was speaking on her CBeebies show, Catie’s Amazing Machines when she said, “snow is amazing. You get to build snowpeople and go sledging.”

    Piers, who has consistently railed against gender non-conformity ranted, “You don’t build snowpeople, you see, you build snowmen, we’ve been building snowmen for 10,000 years”.

    In 2017 Piers was being criticised for the way he handled an interview with a couple who identify as non-binary. The couple, Fox and Owl were being interviewed on Good Morning Britain on ITV. You may remember Fox from Channel 4’s My Transsexual Summer.

    The interview was dubbed “inanely cruel”, disrespectful and “ill-formed”

  • 2021 Census will include questions about gender and sexuality

    The UK’s 2021 census will include questions to help determine the size of Britain’s LGBT+ community.

    ellisedelacruz / Pixabay

    The digital first 2021 Census will help shape public services to meet the needs of the LGBT+ community in the years to come, as plans set out in a government white paper today show.

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has recommended a new voluntary question on sexual orientation for those aged 16 and over. In addition to the usual question on being male or female for all ages, there will also be a voluntary question on gender identity in England and Wales for those aged over 16.

    It was always the intention of ONS that these questions would be voluntary.

    The data gathered from these questions will make it easier to monitor inequalities under the anti-discrimination duties of the Equality Act 2010 and to directly plan public services and support for these groups.

    “Stand Up and Be Counted”

    National Statistician, John Pullinger, said: “The Census is for everyone; it gives us all the opportunity to stand up and be counted in democratic debate and policy decisions.

    “We have designed it with people at its heart and we consulted widely to ensure it meets the needs of society. Unlike previous Censuses, it will be digital first which will make it easier to complete electronically, with help available for those who need it.”

    The date for the digital-first census has been confirmed as 21 March 2021, subject to parliamentary approval.

    Information gathered by ONS will ensure vital public services can be targeted into communities and groups where they are needed, in 2021 and beyond.  

    ONS is transforming the way it collects, processes and shares data and the next census is part of a wider drive towards making more use of data already held and moving surveys online.

    In line with previous censuses, ONS will hold a census rehearsal in October 2019 and is currently reviewing which local authority areas will be included.

    For more information, see the white paper which has been laid today in Parliament.

    How many LGBT people are there in the UK?

    (C) BIGSTOCK

    The number of people who identify as lesbian, gay and bisexual is a hotly debated subject, with no clear answer, but here will look at all the available stats.

    There has long been a widely-held belief that around 10 per cent of the population is gay, lesbian or bisexual or who identify as non-heterosexual. This is probably the most accurate of all the figures – as more and more people feel comfortable to come out about their sexuality.

    The ONS (Office of National Statistics) says that in a survey of people in the United Kingdom it found that 1.5 per cent of people identified as LGB. This result was arrived at by extrapolation of data collected. However, these statistics were disputed for not being accurate or showing the full picture.

    By their estimations, this would mean that there are only 990,300 LGB people in the UK.

  • Six ways you can be a better non-binary ally

    Six ways you can be a better non-binary ally

    This morning I was on Twitter and I clicked on the #TransAwarenessWeek hashtag and I came across a very insightful tweet from a user, who gave some great tips.

    Not everything is binary… kerplode / Pixabay

    Let me tell you about my own gender expression before we go on. I don’t think of myself as a “man” because I don’t really fit into what society expects of its men. When I was a child all I wanted to do was be called a girl, wear high heels, my mum’s dresses and sing Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ on repeat. I was a Grade A queer/trans kid.

    Nowadays, I dress in masculine clothes, I have a boyfriend, I have short hair and people assume that I’m a man, and a gay one at that. I enjoy the privileges that, for the most part, that assumed identity affords me. But, it never really feels right when someone refers to me in that way.

    That said, I don’t mind if people use the pronouns him/his or he when they refer to me. Although it does jar me if someone calls me a man. Weird.

    I also don’t mind it if I’m referred to with female pronouns.

    I’m pretty relaxed about the pronouns that are used to describe me.

    But for some, words really matter. So here’s some advice to help us all become better allies to our non-binary, gender non-conforming siblings.

    Open your ears and mind

    via GIPHY

    It seems that we’ve all got our lives set to transmit only. We need more receiving in our lives. So when someone is telling you something about them, listen.

    Leave your assumptions at the door

    via GIPHY

    Someone once wisely told me, “Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups” – and they were completely right. How often have you assumed something about a situation only to find that nothing was as you imagined? Pretty often, right?

    Your assumptions are based on your own life experience. It doesn’t take into account other people’s experience. So leave your assumptions at the door and again, open your mind.

    Respect pronouns

    rawpixel / Pixabay

    If a person tells you what their preferred pronoun is, accept it don’t fight it. It’s what they’ve asked you to call them. The decision is effectively out of your hands. It’s the same as when someone tells you their name. You accept it and it becomes part of their identity. Well, pronouns are the same.

    Accept that there are lots of different pronouns

    via GIPHY

    Some non-binary, gender fluid and gender non-conforming folks use a number of different pronouns. Some popular ones are: Zim/Zer and Ze, they/them and theirs or even thon, which was actually added to the dictionary in 1964. They as a singular pronoun has been used for centuries.

    It’s not particularly new, it’s not trend based, it’s just getting a lot of media attention at the moment.

    Stop normalising gender norms

    via GIPHY

    Blue for boys, Pink for girls… gender stereotyping is all so 1950s and really doesn’t work for today’s society. No one likes living in a predefined box and we don’t live in a black and white world. There’s a whole rainbow out there.

    Gender norms and stereotypes, when adhered to, just keeps society attached to a patriarchal system that’s almost impossible to climb and doesn’t work for all of us, particularly LGBT+ people. So lets bin it shall we?

    Write your own pronouns

    via GIPHY

    Normalise the conversation surrounding pronouns. Write your preferred pronouns in your social media profiles. As @thalestral says on Twitter, “normalise that shit”.

  • What the UK Government says its going to do for LGBT+ workplace protections in the UK

    The UK’s Government has launched an LGBT action plan, in which it wants to deal with issues facing the LGBT+ community in the UK, including how people can self-identify, ensuring LGBT people know their employment rights.

    people at work
    CREDIT: ©-monkeybusiness-Depositphotos

    “This Government is committed to making the UK a country that works for everyone. We want to strip away the barriers that hold people back so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and talent can take them”.

    Big words, so what exactly are they promising?

    Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equality has outlined 75  points she wants her office to push in order to achieve better rights, equality, safety and visibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people of the UK.

    The LGBT action plan offered the following for LGBT+ policing and safety.

    We also want to ensure that LGBT people are aware of the rights they do have already.

    We will consult on how best to reform the gender recognition process. Last year, the Government Equalities Office announced the intention to consult on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to see how the legal gender recognition process can be made less bureaucratic and intrusive. The consultation will be published alongside this action plan, and we will use the results of the national LGBT survey and the consultation to bring forward proposals for reforming this public service.

    We will consider ways to make it easier to tell the government if you have changed your gender. The Government Equalities Office will investigate whether the ‘Tell Us Once’ service – which is currently used to notify government departments of bereavements – can be learned from so that transgender people who are transitioning and want to update their name and gender across multiple departments only have to do so once.

    We will improve our understanding of issues facing non-binary people. The Government Equalities Office will launch a Call for Evidence on the issues faced by non-binary people, building on the findings from the national LGBT survey.

    We will also improve our understanding of the issues facing people who are intersex. The Government Equalities Office will launch a separate Call for Evidence to improve the evidence relating to intersex people’s experiences.

    We will ensure that LGBT people can easily access information they need about their rights. The Government Digital Service will review the existing content on GOV.UK aimed at LGBT people, and improve the content to ensure that it fully meets their needs.

    Here’s what the government plans are in other key areas:

    Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety

  • This Brighton church welcomes its first non-binary, trans man ordained minister

    A Brighton church is the first to welcome their first non-binary, trans man minister.

    Rev. Peta Evans is to join the church in Brighton as an Associate Pastor. The Village Metropolitan Community Church is a church which was created by LGBT+ Christians, their families, their friends and allies.

    The Reverend’s first sermon is due to be given on the 8th October at 6 PM at the Village MCC. In 2010 Peta left Brighton to train a clergy intern in North London and now is returning to Brighton

    When not ministering, Peta is a care-worker and tailor.

    Rev. Peta said, “Returning to Brighton, I am excited to serve again in the community which first welcomed me and supported me in both my ministry journey and my gender transition. I would love to see the sincere passion and integrity of The Village MCC reach out even more widely to people of all ages, gender identities and walks of life.

    “I am also enthusiastic about reclaiming the Bible from those who have tried to make it a weapon against those who are different, and I’m starting a group for Trans people to do just that, ReTranslation, to look at the text for themselves without past interpretations getting in the way. I have a love for Celtic spirituality, which weaves together the practical and the spiritual, finding depth and delight in all things, no matter how mundane, and for creative expressions of spirituality, which I hope to share with The Village in the coming months.”

    Rev. Michael Hydes, Senior Pastor of The Village MCC said, “I’m looking forward to working with Rev. Peta. Their rootedness in Celtic Christianity and experience working in the Trans communities are just two of the many gifts they bring to their work. I know we’ll all be enriched by their participation in our church life and leadership within our community of faith.”