What Even Is Nonbinary?
The definitive guide of questions cisgendered and trans people have about nonbinary people.
I have “come out of the closet” as queer a lot. It’s a common meme within the LGBTQIA+ community that you come out over-and-over again throughout your life. Every interaction becomes an opportunity to live your truth or to bury it, and there are many times valid reasons to do both.
My first outing was as a gay man in middle school to my mother, and then several weeks later to my sister, followed hesitantly by my fifth grade English teacher. Coming out became such a common occurrence in my life that, several years ago, I did it to the person manning the register at the local supermarket. They responded with an indifferent shrug.
I have become accustomed to explaining my queer identity. I can confidently walk a confused straight person through the mechanics of my sexuality. When they ask, “who’s the boy and who’s the girl in the relationship?” I can laugh off the ignorance and give them a reliable response. Although I still experience discrimination, it was something I knew how to handle.
Right as I started to become confident with my sexuality, however, I then started to realized I had unaddressed gender dysphoria. I was nonbinary, and suddenly the questions began pouring back in. What was that? How does it work? But who’s the girl and…
