Ben Moroney: Campbelltown councillor identifies as non-binary, gender neutral
An everyday family-orientated local politician has broken extraordinary new ground, dropping the revelation they no longer identify as a male, or as a female.
Macarthur
Don't miss out on the headlines from Macarthur. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An everyday family-orientated local politician has broken extraordinary new ground, dropping the revelation they no longer identify as a male, or as a female.
Campbelltown councillor and The Greens party member Ben Moroney, who previously identified as a man, is understood to be the first politician in NSW to describe themselves as non-binary.
The 31-year-old married individual, who is a parent to a one-year-old child, publicly dropped the bombshell at a recent council meeting telling the Macarthur Chronicle the realisation had been coming for a while
“I am obviously in the Greens so I spend a great deal of time around people who are gender-diverse,” the councillor said.
“I was sitting around talking about it to a few friends who are non-binary. It’s not that I identify as a woman but that I didn’t feel like a man. I was feeling a way that didn’t make sense.
“Identifying as non-binary is when you feel like both, feel like neither – it’s a very broad term.”
Cr Moroney said they were bracing for backlash, saying it is “part and parcel” of being a member of the Greens Party.
“I am fully aware there are people not so supportive,” they said. “That is their problem, not mine. I have got hate mail from the past.”
In recent times singer Sam Smith has come out as non-binary, as well as Tasmanian councillor Holly Ewin.
The Campbelltown politician said they hoped this decision would inspire more people to be comfortable in their own skin.
“I’m hopeful of encouraging more people to be true to themselves,” they said.
“The only person who can decide when it is right to come out is them.”