This week sees the launch of #MyPronounsAre, a city-wide initiative from Brighton & Hove City Council.
Our local services have a well established history of engaging with and on behalf of the trans communities both at home and abroad, and this is a campaign in the spirit of inclusivity that really makes a difference.
When Rainbow Chorus heard of it, they were very keen to join this campaign which highlights the experiences of gender variant folks who may not feel comfortable with their assigned gender.
We are all, unfortunately, assigned a gender at birth. A set of rules and expectations that is both arbitrary and rigid at the same time governs each of our lives whether we like it or not. Whether we see it or not.
Gender, and its effects on society, is insidious. It creeps through all the layers and echelons of our culture and times, dividing us into warring camps. It is present throughout the world and breeds misogyny and misandry in turn. It results in violence towards those perceived as women, and awards privilege and toxic masculinity to those seen as men. None of us are safe from the effects of the gender binary.
Trans and non-binary people are bridging this chasm in challenging ways that are sometimes difficult to understand or tolerate, precisely because we are all so bound up in the binary. This campaign reminds us that the most important changes we can all make are those which promote inclusion, because with inclusion comes a desire to learn about the experiences of those with whom we have little in common.
It is very easy to be blind to the exclusion of others until or unless we have an interaction with a person who has hitherto been on the outside. We all love our tribes. Rainbow Chorus is still learning how to be fully inclusive, as are we all. Their commitment to trans-inclusivity has included handwritten pronoun badges at rehearsals for some time now, so it is a pleasure to share
#MyPronounsAre with them in time for Trans Day of Visibility on March 31 and reflect on how far this choir has come in the past few years. There is always more to do; but I am proud to stand and sing with a choir who welcomed me 5 years ago as the man I am today.
Dr Samuel Hall writes a regular column for Gscene and sings even more regularly with the Rainbow Chorus. They appear together in a documentary on Channel 5Star on April 5, @9pm called When Mum becomes Dad and Son becomes Daughter.
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