Liverpool’s Married at First Sight star Thomas Hartley feels “more confident than ever”.
The 31-year-old, from Litherland, said the reason behind his new outlook on life is because he is pansexual. The TV personality added that he understands some may not be educated on the term and wants to “help people understand and learn with resources rather than be offended”.
Asked what pansexual means to him, Thomas told the ECHO : “It means it doesn’t require somebody to be a specific gender for me to find them sexually attractive. I’ve only ever been romantic with male-presenting people, but I do find cis and trans women attractive. I'm just not closed off to anyone, it’s about the person over anything else.
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“There isn’t a specific difference between bisexual and pansexual. Bisexual initially was determined by the person finding both male and female attractive, now that gender is a much broader spectrum, the word pansexual was introduced. It’s whatever somebody’s comfortable with. If somebody referred to me as bisexual I’m good with that too, labels don’t hold power over me.”
Thomas said it was the public platform given to him after appearing on TV which made him be visible for others.
The mental health care assistant added: “I had never been intimate with a cis woman until I was 28, that was the lightbulb moment. I have dated trans men though and I’m a massive ally to the trans community as they lead the fight for us during the civil rights movement. (Since coming out as pansexual) I lost followers, but again, I don’t care about followers, if you like me then follow me, if you don’t then don’t.”
Thomas was thrust into the spotlight briefly after his appearance on the E4 show - a bold social experiment which sees single people, matched by experts, marry total strangers, who they meet for the very first time on their wedding day. He was paired with fellow scouser, Adrian Sanderson, a digital designer from Huyton.
The fan’s love for the couple fluctuated throughout the episodes and unfortunately, the pair decided to go their separate ways since the programme ended. As it stands, Thomas isn’t “looking for love” but rather to create “a stable foundation” with someone first and see where it goes.
Thomas claims he spoke about his pansexuality whilst on the show but said it never aired. He added: “Channel 4 are very sensitive with people's information and gives full transparency. I was glad they allowed me to take time to figure out how I was going to say it, but my ex-husband was aware though.
”The Scouser shared the news of his sexuality to his 170,000 fans earlier this week on Instagram. He penned: “I came out when I was 15 as gay, however before the show I found that I was attracted to all genders and coming to be more fluid with my gender and liberated in my sexuality, I do now understand that I am pansexual.
"Although I resonate more so with dating cis and trans men, I do find cis and trans women attractive too. I am at the beginning of this journey and I am more confident than I have ever been before.
“Pansexuality is not difficult to understand, however rather than be offended, I would rather help people understand and learn with resources and education. Thanks for supporting me during MAFS and after, you have contributed to giving me the confidence to live in my truth. Also, I did come out on the homestay during my ex-husband's homestay, but obviously, they have to condense hours of filming to one hour.”
Fans rushed to support the star Demirosehart94 said: “Thank you for being brave enough to educate us less educated people on things like this Thomas. I thought Pans & Bi were the same things until I read your posts. Thank you for helping us to understand without it being awkward. Your so brave.” Sbelle_hen added: “Just embrace all aspects of yourself that you are discovering and enjoy! Much love.”
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