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."
"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."
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NewsTranscript
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.