I want to start by asking you to do something a little bit unusual.

The vast majority of people watching this, statistically speaking, are men and women

who have felt at one with the gender which is recorded on your birth certificates.

The word for this, incidentally, is cis rather than trans. It's the equivalent of straight

in relation to being lesbian gay or bisexual. Now the sense of being a man or a woman

for the vast majority of us is so integral to our sense of self, to who we are.

It's at internal monologue. It's how we see ourselves. And the vast majority of the time we don't

even think about it. It's so obvious and such a basic fact of our lives. Now for a trans person,

that sense of self is just as strong. A trans man's sense of being a man, that sense of self,

that sense of identity, that internal monologue if you like, is just as strong as it is

for a cis man. A trans woman's sense of being a woman, again the sense of who they are,

how they perceive themselves, is just as strong as it is for a cis woman.

Now whatever you think about trans issues, maybe you're confused, maybe you've heard a lot,

and you don't know what to make of it all, please start from that basis.

They're not pretending, they're not adopting a gender identity at a whim. It is existential

and life defining. And if they're not accepted for who they are, life is unbearable,

just as it's so unbearable for say gay people who, for many centuries, lived as straight people

because of how society would treat them for being gay. If you can at least understand that,

then you can start from a place of humanity. Because the one thing that is missing

from this so-called debate, this Traverse David debate, it's humanity.

Now, I'm not trans, I am cis. Like the vast majority of you, statistically speaking,

watching this. But as a gay person, this is an experience I can at least relate to.

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