Watching Fox Fisher & Owl being interviewed by Piers Morgan on GMB today and its sad to see same ignorant, bigoted and aggressive response to non-binary issues today as were shown 20+ years ago to the LGBT+ community. I shouldn’t be surprised. Morgan’s stigma inducing remarks about non-binary people is as offensive as his recent “man-up” comments about mental health. But there he was again. Fearmongering and peddling the lies that we’ve heard for decades as he hammered home the idea that non-binary people will spread like wildfire in our schools as he questioned whether the concept was “gobbledigook” and are just a “massive new fad” that needs controlling.

Where once it was my LGBT+ community facing hostility over the AIDS crisis or the Section 28 fuelled social panic back in the late 1980s, it is now non-binary people in the spotlight in the UK. And just as I was then inspired by LGBT+ activists who dared to raise their fabulous heads above the parapet, I was so impressed and heartened by the bravery shown by those that would challenge non-binary discrimination today. On (ironically considering we are supposedly one of the more enlightened countries on the planet, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia Day) GMB saw Fox and Owl challenge the reality of Morgan’s bi-phobia asking “why is it that 48% of trans youth are attempting suicide? I think we need to look into that because this is a real thing.” A real thing we are continuing to address thanks to Fox and Owl. Long may they have the strength and heart continue.