With the rise of acceptance of non-binary genders, I have been hearing a lot of protests against these up and coming “snowflakes” trying to be “special.” I have taken to my keyboard to kindly request these protests please stop. Why? Because non-binary people are not coming out because they are trying to be unique or get attention.
Non-binary people are also not up and coming.
This is not some new fad. The reason there are more non-binary people coming out now, is because there is increasing acceptance and support surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and people are feeling more comfortable and safe coming out. Do you think non-binary people would have to be trying to speak up for themselves in the past? With the heat they, and other LGBTQ+, are still getting even today, one can only imagine the lack of acceptance they’d been shown a couple decades before now.
And with the very apparent prejudice and lack of acceptance still present in today’s society, why would someone risk facing that kind of hate and cruelty just so they could get attention and seem special? In 2011, a study revealed that 68% of trans students in general said that they were “verbally harassed” because of their gender identity. A 2010 study showed that 47% of trans Ontario youth considered suicide, 19% having attempted within the previous year. There are countless statistics like these. Among these trans students are non-binary people. To come out is to face the possibility of unforgiving, and sometimes permanently damaging cruelty. You cannot say that non-binary people in that 47% are just trying to get attention.
Being non-binary is not about being special.
It’s about being yourself. If you were born cis (as it is mostly cisgender people who protest non-binary genders), your gender has always been a part of you. It is the same for non-binary people.
Last year, someone close to me came out as gender fluid, and an adult in their life was a little confused. As a lot of people on the fence about non-binary genders often are, this adult was concerned that they were too young to be making such a decision. I asked the question, as I am asking all the cisgender people reading this now.
Cis people: how long have you known that you were either a man or a woman?
Always.
There has probably has never been a question. It is likely you have never thought twice about what gender you identify with. And if someone were to tell you that you are not that gender or that you can’t be or that it doesn’t exist, you wouldn’t be able to just not feel that way. Non-binary people are non-binary because they as strongly identify with their gender as you do with yours. There is nothing special or attention seeking about that, only something inherently human.