From the newsstand: This article appeared in the April 2024 print edition of The Eagle. You can view the digital version here.
I don’t remember when I put my pronouns in my Instagram profile. First I wrote she/they and then they/her.
I ultimately didn't explicitly talk about this to anyone other than my sister and close friends. In my first serious relationship, I kept my pronouns she/her they out of fear that being honest would interfere with the normalcy of the partnership that I cherished. .
After we broke up, I changed my pronouns on Instagram to they/she and didn't tell anyone. My sister started using them mostly for me and I was so grateful. Only a few people in my group of completely queer friends had done the same, so I told them I didn't really care. To this day, I still don't realize how much I'm doing.
I am not oppressed and I would never want to be a white person who acts oppressed because of my queerness or gender identity. Even if I am identified as a woman, I am lucky. Because I am feminine and grew up in a wealthy family, I feel safe organizing for causes I care about, mostly in the socialist sphere.
A Human Rights Campaign report found that Black transgender and non-binary people are at risk of violence because of their identities, and that addressing the violence faced by queer people in the United States requires You have to realize that.
Every day I hear about a young person being murdered for being just like me, I am reminded of how painful it is to be so painfully misunderstood about my gender identity. I accepted that most people aren't really interested in understanding.
In early February, Nex Benedict, a non-binary Native American high school student, was violently attacked and died the next day at just 16 years old. The ignorance and inaction of Benedict's school and the state of Oklahoma could result in more children dying or facing bullying because of their identity.
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to “eradicating suicide among LGBTQ+ youth,” consistently recognizes that the environment is an important factor in terms of queer mental health. In its 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Youth, The Trevor Project found that nearly one in three LGBTQ+ youth said their mental health had worsened due to anti-gay policies, and nearly two in three reported that people said hearing about these policies made their mental health worse. Their mental state is even worse.
The policies that determine the lives of queer people have a direct impact on how they live and can deeply impact their mental health. More than 40% of LGBTQ+ people have considered suicide in the past year, according to the report. Transgender and non-binary people are at much higher risk for suicidal ideation than cisgender people.
Transgender and gender nonconforming people, especially black transgender women, are also at risk of deadly violence, according to another HRC report. Even after queer people are murdered for their identity, police often don't take them seriously.
In a world where transgender and gender nonconforming people are not prioritized, they are at risk of violence and death. Despite this ugly truth, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters called the reaction to Benedict's death “invoking a gender game.”
People like Walters may never change, and it's dangerous for him to be in a position of power using this kind of rhetoric. But my goal for queer activism is to involve people who want to learn and understand so we can better support our queer neighbors.
The Harvard Law Review article refers to nonbinary people as people who wish to “reject, replace, or transcend” the gender binary. But many sources, even Harvard University's sources, have found that to be incorrect. Sources note that non-binary people choose a third gender option when they completely reject the gender binary by name and definition.
At the same time, attempts to define nonbinary strictly are futile. While some may argue that this is necessary to legally address the violence faced by transgender and non-binary people, it is important to note that each non-binary person views their identity differently. , we need to respond in different ways.
An article in the Harvard Law Review calls the legal abolition of gender “an old radical feminist dream of an androgynous or co-ed society.” This comparison calls into question the importance of gender. The fact is that gender is important to many people, so advocating for a genderless society is likely to face serious backlash. Especially for queer people, because it helps them label their feelings.
Gender is a social construct that shapes our societies, communities, and relationships in countless ways. On the contrary, an op-ed article in Psychology Today argues that “gender cannot be both socially constructed and unique to individuals.” Gender is unique to many gender-conforming people, meaning gender can be important to a person's identity, but gender norms are created by everyone, whether intentionally or not. What is said and supported remains true. Gender is ultimately something we have determined and come to accept as a society, and is not unique to everyone.
Gender applies to people in different ways, but non-binary people feel important in the absence of gender just as easily as gender-conforming people feel important in the presence of gender. You can find it.
Even if you haven't given much thought to this before, it's not too late to care about non-binary people and include them in your political and personal conversations. It's never too late to acknowledge and learn from misconceptions about non-binary people.
We deserve your attention, respect, and consideration. We not only have the right to be legally represented, we have the right to be protected from the violence that kills Nex Benedict and hundreds of others every year. Many more people face sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, with disproportionate numbers of victims including people of color, the homeless, and sex workers. The first step toward a better future for trans and non-binary people is intentional and compassionate shared understanding.
Quinn Volpe is a sophomore in the School of Communication and Kogod School of Business and a columnist for The Eagle.
This article was edited by Alana Parker, Jerinda Montez and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing was provided by Luna Jinks, Isabelle Kravis, Sarah Clayton, and Charlie Mennuti.
opinion@theeagleonline.com
