Watson

Since I appear to be getting a bit of a rep as some sort of alt-right cishet, a tiny thread about me. Please forgive my indulgence. I have been in a same-sex relationship for 27 of the 30 odd years of my adult life. When I was younger, I was quite militant about my homosexuality.

I organised pride festivals, I marched, I sat on committees and briefly ran the national association of pride festivals. I was quite the trans rights advocate then too, working with Press for Change on our 1999 and 2000 Pride festivals in Leeds. Note those dates, children.

My views remain largely unchanged from then. If a man or woman wishes to live their life as a woman or man, whatever that means, we should do all we can to help make their way through life without any additional hassle.

But let’s be clear; it’s a polite fiction. Each encounter being one of the gazillion civilities required for a compassionate, decent and open society to thrive.