A non-binary couple accused Piers Morgan of “fear-mongering” as they challenged his views on gender identity on Wednesday’s (17 May) ‘Good Morning Britain’.
Fox Fisher and Owl Stefania were invited on the ITV breakfast show to discuss their own gender neutrality, after Piers previously sparked outrage by calling the concept of non-binary “ridiculous” and “anarchy”.
The pair held a heated debate with Piers, as they pleaded with him to stop treating the matter as a “hypothetical intellectual discussion”, and realise that 48% of trans youth are attempting suicide.
Fox, who was assigned female at birth, attempted to define what non-binary is to Piers, explaining it is “about gender identity versus gender expression”.
“My gender identity is non-binary and my gender expression is more masculine, so I hope that clears it up a little bit,” they said.
“I define as non-binary. That means that I identify as neither male or female fully.”
Asked whether they feel like two genders, Owl - who was assigned male at birth - said: “No. I sort of denounce the idea of being a man or a woman. A non-binary is an identity on its own outside of this binary.”
As Piers questioned whether the concept was “gobbledigook”, Fox insisted: “It’s not gobbledigook - you’ve got to respect what people want to be called.”
“It’s about respect,” Owl added.
Piers then asked whether he could identify as a black woman, to which Owl replied: “It doesn’t really change anything about my life how another person identifies, you can identify in any way you want and that’s up to you.”
Fox added: “You can. That doesn’t take away from how we identify.”
Owl continued: “The problem is this is a hypothetical intellectual discussion for you, but this is about our actual identity.”
“This is our lives, this is every day, not just a four minute segment,” Fox insisted.
Owl went on: “If you truly want to identify in that way, you can, but I know that you don’t. I respect anyone’s right to identify as they want.”
Asked how many people this affects, Fox said: “I just think non-binary issues aren’t going to go away so it’s either you get on board.
“We don’t know, that’s the thing. What does non-binary look like? We’re here to kind of show you that actually gender expression and gender identity are two different things, and non-binary people aren’t just wearing paper bags.”
Being flippant, Piers then asked if he could identify as an elephant, insisting: “What else can you say I’m not? If I identify now as anything… can I be anything I want? Can I be an elephant? Can I literally say I’m now an elephant and do I get afforded elephant rights? Can I go to London Zoo and demand to be put in an elephant compound because I have decided I’m an elephant?”
Branding his argument “silly”, Fox highlighted some key statistics, explaining: “The real question should be why is it that 48% of trans youth are attempting suicide? I think we need to look into that because this is a real thing.”
Owl added: “It’s not about erasing gender. Nobody’s saying that people cannot be men or women, we’re saying that people can also be non-binary and gender needs to expand.”
Fox continued: “Please stop fear mongering as it doesn’t help. It’s not a fad.”
Owl went on: “It’s not about being cool, it’s about an inner sense of self and an identity that you identify with.”
Their argument won huge praise from viewers on Twitter:
‘Good Morning Britain’ airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.