'No one should be made to feel their gender or sexual identity is wrong'
July 14 is International Non-Binary People’s Day – a moment to celebrate non-binary identities and to advocate for advances in the rights of non-binary people. Non-binary is an umbrella term that refers to a range of gender identities outside of male and female.
The day has been marked by a number of LGBT+ organisations in the UK.
The LGBT Foundation has asked people to “spend today celebrating all that makes you unique and taking the time to support your non-binary friends, family and faves.”
The European Institute of Gender Equality wrote that “Everyone should be free to express and be themselves however they want”, adding, “But non-binary people still face discrimination, harassment and [gender based violence].”
Other LGBT+ groups have marked the day by sharing resources on trans and on-binary identities. Trans advocacy group Trans Actual shared a resource on pronoun use:
The Proud Trust has highlighted its resources for LGBT inclusion in schools:
It isn’t only LGBT+ organisations that have been marking the day. Public figures and politicians have also been sharing messages of solidarity with non-binary people.
Labour MP Kate Osborne tweeted that “No one should be made to feel their gender or sexual identity is wrong”:
Presently, the UK does not provide any legal recognition for non-binary people. This means that on official documents, such as passports, non-binary people are instead listed as ‘male’ or ‘female’. Other countries, including the USA, Canada and Australia allow for legal recognition of other genders in some settings.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Quinn Dombrowski – Creative Commons
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