For so many years, my life has been a restless struggle for acceptance. Bullying, mocking, gossiping and rejection have all been major parts of my life, alongside excessive worry and fear that these four things could be about to happen at any given time.
The perfect body doesn't exist, just as the perfect trans* person doesn't exist. We will overstep boundaries and make you feel uncomfortable until you come to realise that your recognition of your man/womanhood is not the be all and end all.
It is not just my sexuality that excludes me from the spectrum of visible colours, but my gender too. I have spent a lifetime trying to understand and explain my gender to myself and others and I have come to the term - non binary trans guy.
People have touted this as a huge step forward for trans* visibility, for breaking barriers and challenging assumptions on gender. However, all it does is serve to put trans* people in the spotlight while reinforcing the age old narrative that trans people are not "real" men or women.
Amongst brands wanting to ensure that they're relevant to contemporary consumers, this is an interesting issue. However, when Facebook has 51 gender definitions you can see why companies are struggling to understand how to be relevant in this respect.
Let's move on from this outdated, ridiculous (and yes, homophobic) notion that a man-on-man hug, or crying happy or sad tears, is somehow emasculating, or should call into question someone's sexuality. As Chris Mears and Jack Laugher showed in that beautiful, instantaneous moment, there's nothing quite as masculine as really knowing yourself, being truly comfortable in your own skin and not giving a stuff about what anyone else might think.
I'm still unsure what point the author was hoping to make, other than 'gay men exist, even at the Olympics, and they want to have sex'. And while nothing explicitly homophobic was said outright, it's what was implied that cuts particularly deep for me.
Maybe the next time somebody tells you that the NHS, the "closest thing we have to a national religion", is so wonderful, you can remind them of this episode. The time that NHS England spent public money trying to deny treatment for MSM because the sex they have isn't well-regarded.
Most people don't really have a problem with what name to use when introducing the person they are with. For most people it's as easily solved as "girlfriend" or "boyfriend". Seems simple enough, right? I wish it was.
Are you sick of constantly tripping over toys, piles of unworn clothes and things-that-really-should-have-been-put-away-weeks-ago? Then maybe like us, you need to have a serious declutter...
Brighton and Hove City Council may have intended to liberate children who do not conform to the gender binary, but instead all their forms have done is restrict all children. If we truly want a gender-inclusive society, we need a culture shift both inside and outside schools that breaks down gender stereotypes.
In truth, yes, those two actors kissing on stage are male. But one of the characters is not. She is a Hijra. She is not gay. She is not q/Queer. She is not transgender. She is something that Western societies can't understand or define.
You'd think this conversation wouldn't need to happen at Smith's level of fame - but media training and Sam Smith are strangers across a crowded room. Not that you can be media-trained for the specific brand of "Did I really just say that?" that Smith does so well.
I'd been to that shop before. This time, however, it was a pair of Converse shoes with the Union Jack flag on it that grabbed my attention. Two of my friends were trying to cheer me up - it was a weird day as I was trying to cope with a break up.
I am worried that recruiters, policy gurus, senior managers and executives continue to reinforce the binary thinking in the workplace. While celebrities can help with broader social acceptance for trans people, it's the daily reality of finding and being at work for all trans people that still needs to change.
Almost everyday I receive messages from men insisting that they would like to "hook up" with me, they will start the conversation with "you're beautiful" which (with me being slightly naive) I thought was quite flattering. Within seconds they ask "how big are you?". Within seconds they ask "how big are you?", no they are not asking for my height, then they'll say "send a pic?" and most of the time its not a picture of my face they want to see.