The UK's first nonbinary mayor is just 23

Brut America

This city just elected its first nonbinary mayor and they are just 23 years old.  "But that's why representation matters, because if I do a good job as mayor ... you know, they'll be like, "Oh, well, it didn't really matter."

Transcript

00:00I'm Ian Hercombe, I'm the new mayor of Bangor. I'm non-binary and my pronouns are they, them.

00:10It's really been Bangor that's helped me be myself and that's why it's another reason

00:14it's so privileging to be able to give back to the city because it's literally given me

00:18the life I have now as who I actually am and I want to give back to that.

00:30Everyone's journey and understanding of themselves and coming out is different. Because non-binary

00:38representation isn't really a thing in traditional media, I didn't really know about it as identity

00:42so I knew I was queer in some way, probably when I was about 11 or 12. I'd heard of being

00:48transgender in the binary sense and I was like, well I know I'm not a woman. And I also

00:53was feeling I know I'm not a bloke. When I started talking more with the LGBT community

00:57here and expressing that, you know, I was having feelings of dysphoria and I didn't

01:00know and there were these other things. They were like, oh, have you considered that, you

01:03know, it might be something to do with your gender, here's stuff you can look into. And

01:06I came across non-binary, I was like, oh wow, all that fits.

01:17I shouldn't be used to it and it's very draining, but it's part of the job. And I think it shows

01:23that whilst a lot of society is willing to accept and understand, there's still people

01:27who are staunch in their position. But that's why representation matters. Because if I do

01:31a good job as mayor, you know, which I'm hoping to do, especially with the fantastic team

01:35behind me, you know, they'll be like, oh, oh, well, it didn't really matter.

01:47They've always been accepting and respectful. I've never felt disrespected on the council.

01:50I've never felt like any of them harbour any prejudiced views against me because I'm

01:53non-binary. And they all make the effort to learn and to understand and particularly the

01:58previous mayor, who on the surface, fits the stereotype. He was an older gentleman, you

02:04know, and he'd been on the council a while, but he was a number one supporter of me.

02:08I'm not the mayor of Bangor, I'm not the mayor of non-binary people. So my focus is

02:22what we can do for Bangor. But a little side thing that would be nice to see is if more

02:26open LGBTQ plus people or even non-binary people put their names forward to run in the

02:31Bangor council elections in a year's time. And I want to show that you can still be yourself

02:35and engage in your local area at the highest of levels and still have the support.

02:52You're asking, you have the amenities of a city, the community spirit of a small scale

02:57town. You've got the sea, you've got the Menai Straits, you've got Snowdonia all on your

03:04doorsteps. You can be shopping in a black label store and then three minutes down the

03:09road, be in the middle of the countryside, looking over stunning views. And as I said,

03:13we're a historic city, 500 AD our city was founded. So if you like history, we've got all of that as well.

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