Why I’m Trans, Why You’re Non-Binary For Those Who Must Know

As LGBTQ+ people we’ve lived our lives under constant scrutiny with people questioning our validity. Whether it’s because we must transition in varying degrees from one binary gender to another or exist somewhere in between while identifying as neither or both and express that with pride to live a healthy, productive life, people who don’t understand are eager to challenge us.

The same has been asked of gay, bisexual and lesbian folks since we, as a modern culture, built a scaffolding around gender and sexuality. There isn’t a single gay man or lesbian who hasn’t had to dodge biblical bullets from religious extremists determined to save their souls. A byproduct, for me, growing up different from everyone else was learning the bible inside and out so I had an intelligent comeback when scripture was weaponized against me. It’s not that I had an unbridled passion for bible stories; I had to familiarize myself intimately with the sword of my enemy.

I believe we all come to a crossroads in our evolution, much in part due to that relentless scrutiny, where we wanted to know why, ourselves. It would have been so much easier if we had a reason that we could point to and have universally accepted rather than be locked in a perpetual dispute and finding ourselves having to justify our existence, often before we hit our teens.