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Even if you don't understand,
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You can still suppport us.
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Our identity remains valid,
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and it exists.
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"Testimonials: Non-binary Identities"
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I'm Cami, I'm 22, I'm non-binary,
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and I'm here to talk to you about non-binary identities.
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Non-binary is an umbrella term
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which includes all gender identites
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that are neither exclusively masculine
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nor exclusively feminine.
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This can include a-gender identities-
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those that involve the absence of gender or a neutral gender-
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or this can include fluid identities,
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as if we imagined gender as a spectrum with two ends:
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Maculine and feminine.
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One may have a position on this spectrum that shifts.
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Including those who are genderfluid, demigender, pangender, etc.
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I never really identified with femininity.
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When I was 18,
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I started questioning my gender identity.
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And I met a trans man
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who I spent some time with
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and together, we found the right words to describe my identity-
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which is non-binary.
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I think that since
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he had much more information than I did,
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he was able to help me find the words
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regarding my identity.
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Gender identity is who we are;
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it's the gender we feel,
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that we live, and experiment,
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and gender expression
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is what we present to others,
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It's the way that we express this identity.
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So, one can have a gender identity,
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for example, masculine :
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So, one may be a man,
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and still have a gender expression that is feminine,
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with many markers considered feminine in society.
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For example, Bilal Hassani,
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who is a man
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with a feminine gender expression.
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I told my parents that I was non-binary
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and that I wanted to change my name
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at the same time.
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I was 20 years old,
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so it was two years ago.
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My mother took it very well;
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she was already well versed in the topic of gender.
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She was open-minded and very supportive.
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I felt safe.
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With my father, it was a bit more complicated.
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It took me longer to tell him,
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and I didn’t do it in person.
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I sent him a message actually,
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because it was easier for me to handle.
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He reacted fairly well,
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he said he didn’t understand everything, but that he would be there to support me
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and that it didn’t change anything for him
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and he still loved me the same.
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With my grandmother, it was a little harder,
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because it was something very foreign to her.
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She grew up in the country, then moved to Paris,
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She lived with my grandfather for 50 years.
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She was part of a very cis-heteronormative framework
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where she had never questioned her own identity
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or others' identities.
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So when I told her about it, she was a bit taken aback.
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but she was always careful
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to treat me in the best possible way.
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She has made enormous efforts,
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and almost never makes mistakes anymore
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in using my chosen name.
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I applied for a name change in 2019.
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I submitted a request
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to the town hall of the city where I lived.
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I picked up an application form, which I filled out
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with testimonies from my loved ones
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stating that they used the name Cami to refer to me.
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I asked my school to provide a letter of support, etc.
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Then I submitted my file and waited a few months-
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It varies depending on the town hall
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and my request for a name change was approved.
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Misgendering someone
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means addressing them
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using incorrect pronouns.
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So, misgendering a non-binary person
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who has explicitly stated
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that they use neutral pronouns like “they”
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and instead referring to them with masculine or feminine pronouns.
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Personally, I use feminine pronouns when speaking
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and neutral when writing.
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And generally, I tend to mention this right away:
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I prefer to be addressed with feminine pronouns in speech.
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Then, if the person doesn't do it on their own
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and you want to be sure you're doing it right,
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you can ask them their pronouns directly
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or wait until the person refers to themselves
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so you can follow their lead.
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In the videos I have made previously,
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there were many comments
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that actually invalidate our identities,
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that deny our gender expressions
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and our gender identities.
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I hardly ever read those comments
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because I know that most of them
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are either malicious or very insensitive
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and that they would only upset me.
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I once participated in a documentary
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where people claimed that being non-binary was just a trend,
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that it had only emerged a few years ago
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in the United States, 10 years ago,
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and that it was tied to fashion,
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like the unisex clothing trend, etc.
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Which is completely false.
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And I think that it is also
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a very white-centered and Eurocentric perspective.
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Because in many cultures,
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multiple gender identities exist,
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that were completely erased
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during colonization quite simply.
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Quite often, we hear that it is problematic
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or bothersome
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to create more and more identity categories
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to identify and re-identify oneself, etc.
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But I think that it is extremely important
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to be able to first identify with something
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in order to detach oneself from an identity
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that was arbitrarily assigned to us
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I think that yes, it is necessary
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to also find oneself in a community
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to build connections
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and know that we are not alone,
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that there is support,
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that there are other people like us
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who understand us and who listen to us.
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If I had just one thing to say,
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I think it would be that even if you don’t understand,
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you can still support and accompany others.
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You can learn, you can deconstruct ways of thinking,
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you can educate yourself,
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you can help your loved ones,
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even if you don’t fully grasp the entirety
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of what defining their gender identity means.
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Another thing is that
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all non-binary people
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have different ways of expressing their identity.
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Some people will undergo medical transitions,
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take hormones, have surgeries,
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while others will not.
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And regardless of the way in which
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someone transitions socially, medically, or not at all,
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our identity remains legitimate and it exists.
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And there are many of us.