Now, aside from the throng of guests,
there’s also an elephant in the room tonight.
And so I need you
to indulge me for just a couple of minutes
to move it on.
I have only ever wanted this night, these Awards,
to be celebratory and full of love.
For readers and followers to look on and see,
among those that we platform and elevate,
people who have shared their life experiences,
people who look like they do,
be they lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or
anywhere on the glorious queer spectrum.
Be they black, white or brown.
Be they younger, be they older,
be they differently abled.
The Attitude Awards, to steal a line
from our friends at Marks and Spencer,
are exclusively for everyone.
Our winners,
our winners and presenters tonight
will take every one of those boxes,
and then some.
By design, with heart and with pride.
Nobody can lay claim to
inclusively without representation for all.
Attitude may be a
brand targeting gay and bisexual men,
but it has always stood for more than that.
Our cover stars, going back decades
have been gloriously LGBTQIA,
topped up with straight allies.
One big, rainbow community.
So I want to say this,
as the proud owner of the world's biggest LGBTQ
media brand, which we now are,
as a man honoured by his
country for services to diversity
and as an ambassador
for the UK government's GREAT campaign
a non-political effort
to promote this country's values around the world.
And I want to say this as a drinker of gin.
The T is not a delete option.
Never has been, never will be, not on my watch
or any of my team's.
You know, it's coming.
There is an organisation that currently
has so much to say on transgender issues
while claiming to speak only for LGB people.
That is unworthy,
it is contemptible and it's downright dangerous.
Their narrative,
that transgender people aren't
part of our community,
that they come from a different place
and are somehow a drag
on the equality cause for the rest of us
is absolute lunacy.
They speak,
they speak of "needing to protect the children",
of our "diminishing the
rights of cisgender women",
of our apparent "misogyny".
They use the
language of bigotry, of persecution
and exclusion,
and those who
seek to counsel them
are labelled paedophiles, perverts or likened
to Jeffrey Epstein.
All of
that came at me in a single
Sunday afternoon on Twitter.
Now, the truth is, I don't give a shit what they say
about me.
I'm white, I'm middle class, I'm older.
I've done OK.
The privilege
I carry washes away any harm
they might inflict on me.
But my trans friends are f***ing terrified.
This nasty little group
are being given airtime,
all the time,
by our national broadcaster,
and much of it is unchallenged.
They aren't even in the room
for the debate
and their tropes
are beginning to echo across our community.
To assault my children, they say, a man has only
to wear a dress and say
he's transgender
to gain access to a leisure centre changing room.
You must have a birth certificate
that makes you a woman, they say,
or a cervix to get in.
Like Rose West, perhaps?
Or Myra Hindley?
Or maybe Ian Huntley
with overalls, mop and a bucket?
That got him in.
Their describing the acts of paedophiles
and murderers, not transgender people.
You cannot draw that line.
They are creating phantoms
and demons and some people are listening.
So we must all be prepared to speak out ourselves.
The American satirist Jon Stewart once said
of equal marriage that the only reason to be against
it is if it's made compulsory.
The same applies to transitioning.
Trans people are just people,
trans men are just men
and trans women are just women.
And if your, yeah,
and if your concern extends to what bits
other people have,
you don't need a Twitter account
or a hate group.
You need help
and you are the biggest threat to your children.
They think
their LGB gathering is a rebel alliance,
but it isn't.
It's closer to a Death Star and it casts a shadow.
But we all know that in time,
a Death Star implodes from within in the end.
So please be vigilant, be outspoken on
behalf of your trans siblings and above all,
be kind.
So, I just want to say,
to our dear trans friends
that are in the room tonight,
to all of you here
and to everybody watching beyond.
This is your tribe, we are your family.
So from the Camden Roundhouse, London,
to the world beyond, where we know millions
watch us on social media, listen tonight to our
shared heroes, see the best that we can be.
Because that's the best you can be too and know
and know that we send our love to each and
every one of you in every glorious form it may take.