More background information about nonbinary people.
Appendix: More background information about nonbinary people
Nonbinary people do not identify as either binary gender, meaning a nonbinary person is someone who is not exclusively a man or a woman.
Nonbinary people are often conflated with other related groups.
Being nonbinary is sometimes conflated with being intersex, but these terms are not the same. “Intersex” refers to people who are born with variations in their physical sex characteristics that differ from typical notions of male or female bodies. Some intersex people also identify as nonbinary, but being intersex does not automatically make someone nonbinary. Likewise, most nonbinary people are not intersex.
Similarly, being nonbinary is sometimes confused with being transgender. Some nonbinary and transgender people consider nonbinary people to be a subset of the transgender population. Others see nonbinary people and transgender people as two distinct (but overlapping) populations. On an individual level, some, but not all, nonbinary people identify as transgender as well as nonbinary.
Like transgender men and women, nonbinary people have a diverse range of experiences about how they understand and express their genders. This includes whether and how they come out to people in their lives; access gender-affirming health care; change their names, pronouns, or identity documentation; or wear clothing from a different retail category. There is no one way to look or be nonbinary.
Nonbinary people face persistent stereotyping, which is usually negative or dismissive.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to tell whether a person is a man, a woman, or nonbinary simply by looking at them. Some nonbinary people are perceived by others as androgynous or gender “ambiguous” ––perhaps being perceived inconsistently as a man or as a woman at different times. This sometimes depends on what they are wearing. Other nonbinary people are perceived by others consistently as a man or as a woman most or all of the time.
When people openly identify as nonbinary or express themselves in a way that does not conform to binary gender roles, they are often negatively stereotyped as attention-seeking, assumed to be politically motivated, or simply dismissed as “going through a phase.”18 As a result, nonbinary people are often constrained in their abilities to advocate for their rights as individuals in everyday settings. Indeed, nonbinary people are “almost twice as likely as their binary transgender counterparts to refrain from asking their employers to refer to them by the correct pronouns. . . .”19 The same barriers also constrain nonbinary people from accessing resources or support from professionals such as lawyers,20 which may obscure from policymakers the challenges that nonbinary people experience.
Nonbinary people are targets of animus and experience many types of harm.
Nonbinary people face pervasive mistreatment, including harassment, discrimination, and physical violence. This is also true of other people who may be perceived as falling outside of binary expectations because of their gender expression or bodily characteristics (e.g., gender nonconforming people, or intersex people) even if they do not identify as nonbinary. Fifty-five percent of nonbinary people have been physically attacked or sexually assaulted in adulthood.21 Fifty-four percent of nonbinary adults feel that they are less respected than those who do not identify as nonbinary.22 As a result of these experiences, and further compounding them, 51% of nonbinary adults have symptoms consistent with serious mental illness, and 39% have attempted suicide.23 Nonbinary people often suffer chronic stressors, including not having enough money to make ends meet, having strained family relationships, and feeling mentally and physically tired because of their jobs.24
Nonbinary people are often targeted by the same or similar discriminatory laws or practices as transgender men and women. However, discrimination against nonbinary people can also take unique forms or be justified with slightly different arguments.25 Nonbinary people frequently confront specific barriers or forms of animus not typically experienced by transgender women and men. Because of pervasive stereotypes about gender, institutional recognition of genders typically only account for men and women, and nonbinary and gender nonconforming people face disbelief, disregard, and disrespect.26
Meanwhile, there is little federal guidance, regulation, or case law expressly addressing discrimination against nonbinary people, even as state legislatures and other institutions increasingly seek to target nonbinary people for stigma and exclusion. Ensuring federal nondiscrimination protections are accurately interpreted as applying to these communities is more important than ever. Policymakers must not assume that the policy solutions that address the needs of transgender men and women also address the needs of nonbinary people because many policy solutions for transgender women and men can still negatively impact people who do not fit exclusively into either gender category. Instead, policymakers must understand the unique challenges that nonbinary people face to meet the needs of nonbinary communities and to avoid unintended negative impacts.