People going about saying they're not racist are wild - you know how I know? Because bigotries and biases are so drilled into us from birth that we ALL carry them. I'm trans. I've spent years campaigning for trans rights. I've spoken in Parliament on it. I'm still transphobic.

See, it goes like this:
The world is full of hatred. Transphobia. Racism. Sexism. A million others.
As we're raised in it we internalise those things, they're built into us, and even as we grow and learn, we carry them with us.

It will take more than one lifetime to remove the biases and bigotries the world slowly filters into us.

However it is worthy work. And work we should never shy away from.

Despite spending years fighting for trans rights, despite being trans, sometimes, the first thought that goes through my head in a situation is a transphobic one - because that's what the world has taught me.

We all have entrenched biases, what matters is what we do about it.

You can't go about acting on the bigotries the world has raised you with - but equally, you can't go about ignoring them either.

You have to face yourself, and accept them, and work, constantly, and consciously, to ensure that you don't let those biases affect your behaviour.

We ALL think bigoted things. All of us. It's not a personal criticism. It's a fact. And if you can't face that, then you're not even close to being ready to do the work it takes to ensure those bigotries don't leak out into the world through your behaviour.

It's a simplified analysis of a complex phenomenon, but I like to explain it like this:

The first thought you have - the bigoted one - that's what the world has taught you.

The second thought - the one where you acknowledge and challenge it - that's you, working to be better.

Don't let shame over that first bigoted thought, or a refusal to acknowledge it, stop you from putting in the work. Don't let it stop the development of that second thought.