by A father of two described coming out as non-binary to his children after they saw photos of him in a dress and didn’t recognize him.
Dave Moore, 40, from Cardiff decided to reveal the truth he had hidden for 35 years after attending the Bristol Pride parade on Saturday.
Moore, who is straight, sometimes dresses in feminine clothing and identifies as non-binary, using the pronouns he/her.
The IT consultant admits to spending most of his life in “horrible” pain while “hiding” his true gender identity.
His children, a 5-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, knew that he and his partner Alex Andersz, 35, would be attending the Pride event last weekend, but Moore originally did not plan to tell them about his gender identity. His partner Alex identifies as cisgender and is pansexual.
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After the Pride parade, his children saw photos of him in a dress and didn’t realize it was their father, prompting Moore to explain to them that he is non-binary.
“They wanted to know what the Pride parade was like and Alex asked if they wanted to see her makeup and started showing them photos of the makeup she did for Pride,” she explains.
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“I was skipping through photos on a phone and there were photos of me in there in my outfit, which was a dress.
“My daughter was looking at them, but she didn’t move at all.”
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Later that day, Moore decided to open up to his children, showing them the photos of himself again and explaining that he was the one wearing the dress.
“My daughter laughed a little bit and said, ‘Oh my God, you look like a girl!'” she says of her initial reaction.
“We talked a bit about what non-binary meant and how I didn’t feel 100% male all the time.
“The best thing for me was when I was about to put them to bed I asked them if they wanted a bedtime story or if they wanted to see more pictures of me, and they both wanted to see more pictures.
“They responded very well,” he continues.
“My daughter wanted to shout it from the rooftops. She wanted to go and tell her friends at school.”
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Moore met Andersz in 2019, after chatting on a night out in Manchester, and was open about his identity from the start.
“One of the first things I did was show her a picture of me dressed up and she was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing,'” he explains.
“We had a really good night together and got together as a couple after that.
“We are boyfriend and girlfriend, man and woman like everyone else, but we are also best friends.
“We share all of our clothes and we’re both size 10-12.
“Alex buys a dress and says, ‘I think it will look great on you, it’s perfect.’
“My wardrobe is like 50-60% female clothes and shoes.”
While her partner always knew about her gender identity, Moore was at a loss as to how to express it to her family.
“I debated if this was something I could hide from them completely, introduce them to them nicely, or just dress like this in front of them from a young age so they would completely normalize.” ” he says.
“And you know I could never come to a conclusion.
“I don’t regret not doing it earlier though, I think it was probably the right time to do it.”
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Moore adds that she plans to continue to speak openly with her children and wants to attend future Pride events with them.
“I want to set an example for my children, I want to be a non-binary positive role model for them.”
For information and support, visit the charity, Beaumont Society.
Additional SWNS reports.
