Today we mark International Non-Binary People’s Day
by sharing some thoughts from the Consortium Team
Ray (they/them) National LGBT+ Partnership Stakeholder Officer:
“To all people who are nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, bigender, genderfluid or have any other gender identity that lies outside the gender binary, in solidarity and celebration:
I’ve identified as non-binary since I was 16, and since then I’ve used lots of different words to understand and express myself, each as true as the last. I currently describe myself as genderqueer and trans-masculine.
As well as enduring invisibility and invalidation, I’ve experienced the joy, creativity, and freedom of non-binary existence. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing lots of fantastic non-binary people and I’ve witnessed an incredible constellation of embodiments, expressions, and ways of being.
I want to appreciate our diversity, authenticity, courage, joy, open-ness, and the imagination that we can apply to our identities, ways of being and the world around us.
I want to recognise the self-knowledge that we have as non-binary people, however much our identities are in flux, whether and wherever we decide to come out, and however we choose to present.
I want to acknowledge the erasure, invalidation, questioning and violence that comes at us in many different ways, and the courage inherent in our existence.
I want to say that we are not just valid; we are valuable, vital and whole!”
Camillea (they/them) Racial Justice Engagement Officer:
“I love everything about my presentation being ‘femme-presenting’ – which gives me such a proud sense of JOY and comfort. Being this way hasn’t always been easy, especially in a society that solely focuses on binary factors. Just over a year ago, I identified and shared with others that I am ‘non-binary.’ due to this, it has been challenging, to say the least, not being recognised as I don’t fit into the ‘gender norms’. I have become resilient by treating myself to tender moments of joy, care, and comfort.“
Leo (he/they) Communications Officer:
“I discovered I was non-binary when I was about 18 years old. I’d struggled with my gender identity for many years up until that point and I remember scrolling through Tumblr at the time, going through LGBTQIA+ blogs to see if anyone felt the way I did. I came across a post about someone who identified as non-binary and I would say this was my ‘light-bulb moment’. It was like someone had switched on the light to who I was in that moment and the feeling was indescribable; I finally had been given the words to something that I had never had the language for. Like many other non-binary people, my pronouns have changed and evolved over the years. I used to only use they/them pronouns, then I changed to he/him and now I use he/they. I describe myself as non-binary trans masculine, but over time the way I feel about these labels may change. For me, there is no one way to be non-binary; your presentation, pronouns and how you perceive your gender can change over time and the most important thing is doing what feels right to you.
The joy I find from being a non-binary person is the feeling of being at home with myself and within my community… it’s where I feel the most safe and comfortable. Non-binary people can express and present themselves in whatever way we choose, and I think that it’s so beautiful to be surround by so many diverse people. I know that however I feel or however I change my presentation, I am always valid in my non-binary identity and have a place in this community.”
Here are some resources from our members: