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Even if you don’t understand,
you can still offer support and guidance.
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Our identity is legitimate and real.
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My name is Cami, I’m 22, I’m non-binary.
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I’m here to talk about being non-binary.
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"Non-binary" is an umbrella term.
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It includes all gender identities
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that are neither exclusively masculine
or exclusively feminine.
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This could be agender, a neutre term,
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where the letter "a" means without. (add)
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Or this could be all fluid identities
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like if we were to image gender
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as a spectrum with two poles:
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masculine and feminine.
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We can picture a cursor
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moving back and forth between them—
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encompassing 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 had already started to ask questions
about my gender identity,
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and I met a trans man
who I was with for some time.
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And together, we mapped out my identity,
which was non-binary.
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I think it's because
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he was more knowledgable than me
on the subject
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that he knew how to help me
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find the words to express my identity.
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Gender identity encapsulates our existence.
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It’s the gender we feel, live,
and experiment with.
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And gender expression is how we choose
to present ourselves to the public eye.
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It’s the way we can express this identity.
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For example, we could have
a masculine gender identity
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where we are a man,
and we could have a gender expression
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that could be feminine
with plenty of markers
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that society considers feminine.
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Like Bilal Hassani who is a man
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
at the same time.
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I was 20. This was 2 years ago.
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My mom took it really well.
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She was up to date with
questions of gender.
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She was accepting
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and a safe space for me.
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She made me feel secure.
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My father was a little more sensitive.
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I took a bit more time to tell him
and I didn’t do it in person.
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I sent him a message,
which was easier for me to handle.
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He reacted very well.
