I'm taking part in "Miles for Mermaids" this March to fundraise for this amazing charity that supports transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse children and young people, as well as their families and professionals involved in their care.

Please donate if you can, but more importantly please do something to learn (even) more about non-binary and trans people this month. Mermaid has lots of resources on their website, and if you’re new to the topic this 10 minute video could be a good place to start: https://youtu.be/qlYtj0sf6ec

I’m motivated by my desire to counter the spread of misinformation in right-wing and mainstream media in the UK (and elsewhere) about trans people and the organisations that support them. I want my non-binary child and their wonderful queer friends and community to live in a world where there is more understanding, support and acceptance for their ways of life.

Learning more about trans people has helped me reflect on my own experiences as a child and young adult, being labelled as a Tom-boy and feeling uncomfortable in women-only feminist spaces. At the age of 60, thanks to learning from my own child, I realised that I also had always been non-binary.

I’m also doing this in honour of my mother Margaret, who died 2 years ago at the age of 96 and went for walks every day until the last 6 months of her life. Witnessing her determination to keep active was inspiring! Unfortunately, her dementia took hold just at the time my child came out as non-binary, so we were not able to speak to her about this. I think she would have struggled to understand, but I know that she would have tried to learn as much as possible, and that this would not have affected her deep love for her grandchild in any way.

I am aiming to walk 100 km in the month of March (even after all these years living in the UK miles make no sense to me). This is a relatively low target because I’ve been suffering from chronic fatigue for the last few years. Some days walking down the road is a challenge, other days I can walk up a mountain! This is going to be an incentive to try to go out for at least a short walk every day.