Paddy Gower has revealed he has a personal connection to the transgender issue, saying he had "to learn a lot" during his lifetime.
Gower said he has a direct older relative who is intersex. Intersex is a person who is born with a combination of male and female biological traits.
Speaking at the end of Paddy Gower Has Issues, Gower said he had been prompted to reveal this with "their blessing" because it was something he'd had to adapt to and he wanted people to "calm the farm" during the often-heated debates that arose around the transgender discussion.
"The most powerful thing somebody said to me about this along the way was 'What if it was someone in your own family, what would you do?'" he said.
"Now I know quite a bit about this, because one of my direct older relatives is intersex - it's when you are born with an ambiguous genitalia.
"It has been a difficult life for them, I've got their blessing to reveal this tonight, this is something I have had to learn a lot about during my lifetime.
"The reason for doing this is to say this does happen and it happens a lot.
"Gender is much more complex than many of us think. So If it happened in your family, what would you do - ignore it, get angry and confused, yell and shout, or would you keep calm, try and learn more, listen and try to understand it?"
Gower concluded by making a plea for tolerance, acceptance and understanding, saying: "We all know what the right answer is."
Intersex definition
Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.
For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside.
Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types.
Or a person may be born with a mosaic of genetics and chromosomes.
There is a broad spectrum of embodiment, variations and diverse manifestation of the intersex umbrella - there are over 40 different variations.
There is also distinction between intersex and transgender. People who identify as transgender are usually people who are born with typical male or female anatomies but feel as though they’ve been born into the “wrong body”, whereas intersex people are born the way they are.
