Dave Moore spent 35 years feeling as though he had to "hide" his real identity from most of the people in his life. But the father-of-two has recently been inspired to tell his children about being non-binary after attending Bristol Pride with his partner.
Dave identifies as non-binary, and sometimes chooses to dress as a woman. He uses the pronouns he/him.
Dave and partner, Alex, headed to Bristol Pride last weekend with some friends. When arriving back home to Dave's children, they didn't intend to discuss Pride with them, but a serendipitous encounter led to Dave exploring his true identity with his young kids.
Read more: Radical new bus payment system announced for Bristol
"I wasn't planning to do it," Dave told Bristol Live. "My other half, Alex, asked my eight-year-old daughter, Saffron, if she'd like to see the makeup she'd worn for Pride, as she did rainbow eyes.
"Saffron was excited to see. Whilst she was looking, there were photos of me dressed as a woman on the phone next to her and I noticed that Saffron didn't twig that it was me; she didn't ask anything about it.
"I left it for about 20 minutes, and then I came back and asked Saffron if she'd like to see what my outfit was like for Pride. She said yes.
"I showed her a photo of me dressed up and I could have cried, as she said 'Daddy, you look just like a girl!'. She was so happy and surprised. I could have cried. We then explained Pride to her, I told her a little about how I'm non-binary, and I showed her the non-binary flag."
That afternoon Dave and family sat down to watch the Grand Prix on TV, and Dave watched as Saffron picked up a piece of paper and started drawing. "She drew a Pride-inspired picture of all of us as a family.
"We've all got rainbow clothes on. It took her hours to colour it all in, and she was so proud of it. She then came over and gave it to me. Then that evening, before bed, I normally read my kids a bedtime story.
"I asked if they wanted a story or if they wanted to see pictures of me - and both my daughter and son wanted to see photos of me. So I showed them photos of myself over the years, in various outfits. It was just awesome. Saffron wants to show mummy the picture she drew, and my kids want to come to Pride next year."
There are conversations at the moment surrounding whether parents 'should' bring their children to Pride events. Dave can't believe it's even a question worth debating.
"There's this nonsense at the moment of 'Oh God, I can't believe people are taking kids to Pride'. Everybody should take their children to pride! It's the happiest thing I've ever seen. The only time I've ever been anywhere close to feeling like that was at Glastonbury Festival, or when there's a big sporting game - that feeling of an entire nation coming together as one. Those moments are very, very rare. Go and experience it, take your family along. And if you come out of that with a closed mind, then there's something wrong."
Read next:
