When viewers of Fox's Deputy found out on the February 13 episode that Deputy Brianna Bishop (Bex Taylor-Klaus) claimed to be more than one gender, it was only a matter of time before the show tried to insert the issue into the series plotline again. This time it's so that Sheriff Bill Hollister (Stephen Dorf) can tell her to "live your truth."
In the February 27 episode, "10-8 Entitlements," Bishop revealed to her girlfriend, Genevieve (Karrueche Tran), that she was non-binary. Being that Genevieve was a lesbian woman, she was less than happy. While Genevieve's reaction ought to be considered understandable, it's Bishop who was portrayed in the sympathetic light.
Bishop and Genevieve bicker throughout the episode, but their fighting really came to a head in a car ride home, when Bishop admitted that she "felt different" as early as when she agreed to move from D.C. to Los Angeles to be with her:
Genevieve: Did you know when you moved here that you were non-binary?
Bishop: I didn't have a term for it but I knew that something about me was different. But that doesn't change how I feel about you. I know we can get through this. But you don't.
Genevieve: I don't know if I can...
Bishop: Pull over.
Driver: Are you sure?
Genevieve: We're on the freeway.
Bishop: I will not do this anymore. Pull over! Just so that we're clear... I wanted your acceptance, but I did not need your acceptance.
Bishop didn't even let Genevieve finish before her dramatic show of exiting the car, on the freeway, and having the driver and now ex-girlfriend leave her behind.
After she kicks the divider enough times, Bishop calls Sheriff Hollister to come pick her up. Just like his wife, a doctor who actually claimed "there are more than two sexes" and did so while claiming to "understand biology," Sheriff Hollister acted like it's all normal:
Bishop: Doc took a look. Wrote a little F on my birth certificate, and ever since that moment the whole world has viewed me as a woman.
Sheriff Hollister: Well, aren't you?
Bishop: No. Sheriff, I'm not. I'm not a woman, but I'm not a man, either. Something other than those two. My gender is non-binary. And Genevieve couldn't accept that. I... I wasn't who she thought I was.
Sheriff Hollister: Why don't you tell me who you are, then?
Bishop: I'm not she or her, or even him, I'm they and them. Those are my pronouns.
Sheriff Hollister: Well, you know... That you never have to be anything but yourself with me, right?
Bishop: Thank you. And I'm gonna be honest, I'm still learning exactly who I am, but for now... I've gotta stop being who I'm not.
Sheriff Hollister: Well, I might mess up sometimes.
Bishop: I'll remind you.
Sheriff Hollister: Why don't we get off the freeway, huh? So what am I supposed to call you now?
Bishop: Bishop. Just Bishop.
Sheriff Hollister: Just Bishop. Okay.
Bishop: So what now?
Sheriff Hollister: The world's your oyster. No masks. Just Bishop. Hey. You live your truth. End of the day, it's all we got. Let me get you home.
If Bishop was still "learning exactly who I am," then one wonders if she really is non-binary. What other option is there? Sheriff Hollister went along with it, turning the episode's end into a self-esteem booster and encouraging one to live her life, even if it is actually doesn't jive with biology.
