"We need to lock them up
and fix them or make them go away."
Trans-women are women.
ALL: Trans-women are women.
Trans-men are men.
ALL: Trans-men are men.
CROWD APPLAUDS
Hello, good people. Hello!
Hi, I'm Fox. And I'm Owl.
And we're both trans-activists.
And I define as non-binary.
And I define as non-binary too. Yes!
I'm neither a man or a woman.
I don't want to fit into
the narrow expectations
of what it is to be a man.
Was that sexy?!
It's about more than just
denouncing gender stereotypes,
because it is in itself
an identity.
It's about learning to celebrate
and accept yourself outside of
the binary.
And it's about defiance.
Come on then, let's go!
I love the activism that we do.
And it's so nice to have Owl with me
as my partner in crime.
I think we're here.
..people will take that away
with them.
The films that we make I kind
of want people to be like,
"Well, so they're trans - so what?"
That is the time to really stand up.
When somebody says something...
We've been doing activism
for a very long time.
It always seems to move
very slowly though,
so it's always a bit frustrating.
But it is really important
to have those conversations.
Across the board,
from education to, erm, business...
I mean, trans people
are still facing serious issues
when it comes down to education,
to the workplace.
You know,
there's really high suicide rates.
Trans people are still being
violently attacked.
I never actually set out
to be an activist but I realised
that I was coming out to a world
that didn't know anything
about being trans.
So I sort of had to carve my own way
in the media
and just start speaking up about
these things because no-one else
was doing it.
The media is full of rubbish about
trans people. Yeah.
So, we
do this thing because we have to.
Just in the car heading off
to Totnes Pride today.
So, we just arrived at Totnes, eh,
for a sound check for our speech.
We're wearing our glitzy,
glitzy outfits for Pride. Woohoo!
But Pride is a protest, still.
So, yeah, we're also not here
just to have a great time,
but also to raise awareness
of things that are important
to raise awareness of.
Our little nephew, Henry,
looking very cute.
The first Pride for Henry. Woohoo!
We're going to be giving a speech,
a very rousing trans-related speech,
about 11 o'clock. And then the
march is going to head off at 11.30.
The reason why it's important for
trans people to be visible at Pride
is because there has been a lot
of rise in transphobia
recently in the UK.
Trans rights are human rights.
CROWD: Trans rights
are human rights.
Non-binary is valid.
CROWD: Non-binary is valid.
Yeah!
FOX LAUGHS
Yeah!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
These types of events create
a space where people can be
themselves without judgment.
And for many,
it's a highlight of their year.
So, what are you proud of, Owl?
I am proud of a lot of things.
I am proud of trans people
for being a great
and an amazing community
that is rising up against
a lot of hardship right now.
And I think we're coming together
and we are mobilising other people
in the community as well. There is
a lot of strength in that, I feel.
Just heading back to Brighton.
And it's going to be about
a five, six-hour trip.
Tomorrow we're off to London
for three appointments. Yay!
And then Tuesday we're in London
as well.
And Friday we're in London too.
We often have really,
really long days and we do a lot of
meetings and stuff and we travel
a lot to London, for example.
It just feels like there's
always more work to be done.
There's admin to do,
there's people to respond to.
There's nasty messages from various
social media that I have to deal
with and block and delete.
As an example of some of the hate
messages we get online,
this is just one that I woke up to
today that says...
"Gender dysphoria is all this is.
They are literally insane.
"People don't need to pander
to the crazy.
"We need to lock them up and fix
them or make them go away.
"This is just bad parenting
and insanity. Nothing else to it."
If I wasn't a trans activist I would
be a screen printer just making art.
And I miss that as well sometimes.
So this is the fourth or fifth
meeting that we've had this year
talking about non-binary
trans issues.
All off the record,
all on our own time and dime.
Erm, but this is true activism,
I suppose,
where hopefully it'll all pay off.
Being able to access policy makers
and help them understand
the importance of trans rights
is probably one of the most
important things in activism.
Who's getting married?
Yay, good for them!
Oh, hi there. What's going on?
You know, just waiting for a train
to go back to Brighton.
Trans activists are often sharing
very personal things and we have
to be incredibly vulnerable
and at the same time we have
to be able to, you know,
get our points across.
And it's actually quite
exhausting sometimes.
For example, after today we feel
pooped - quite tired, actually.
Yeah!
When we get home, just being able
to sit down and breathe and relax,
and just being able to cook some
food really helps me sort of wind
down and reflect on the day.
I feel like we've achieved so much
through activism over the years.
People reach out to us so many times
and say that it's actually
making a difference to them
and it inspires them.
So, that's when you know that it's
working and the hard work matters.
