#nonbinary history

This is Jim Sinclair, at the time going by Toby. They are a neuter, asexual and intersex enban, and a seminal autism activist. They have been an educator on transneutral nonbinary identity, non-binary transition, the anti binarist position and intersex issues for decades. This is an interview with them from the 1980s, talking about their experience as a non-binary/genderqueer person at a time where the community was just coming together.

"In a 1997 introduction to the Intersex Society of North America, Sinclair wrote, "I remain openly and proudly neuter, both physically and socially."

Here's a link to his wiki page on Non Binary Wikipedia: https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Simon_Ganneau

I can absolutely check this person out and add them to our list!

Also this quote from the article you linked:

"He wore a combination of feminine and masculine signifiers: a beard, a working man's blouse, and a woman's mantle. He called himself by the title "the Mapah," which was a combination of the words mater (mother) and pater (father). He created a mystical religion he called Evadaisme, meaning "Eve-Adam-ism." This taught that the next phase of human development would be androgyny, coming from the femininity of Mary-Eve marrying the masculinity of Christ-Adam. Evadaisme favored socialism, and condemned sexist traditions, such as taking the surname of one's father and not one's mother. Though the Mapah was poor, he was well-educated, and spoke eloquently. He preached to working-class men, and to women who were sex workers."

Oh absolutely. Its always "they were either a trans man/trans woman or a binary cis man/cis woman!" and even when nonbinary language is thrown around, I feel its often with a vibe of like... "well maybe they were a cis person who was kind of funky about it!" as opposed to genuinely trying to connect modern experiences covered under the "nonbinary" label to the experiences of people from the past. & then you have people who want to claim that any example of third-gender people in various cultures throughout history are just binary trans people who were forced to identify that way.

Because nonbinary erasure means people today aren't interested in discussing, or do not know/think much about, nonbinary experiences beyond the surface level understanding of "not a man or a woman" (which is NOT a complete definition in the first place, but acknowledging the validity of androgyne's wo/manhood is Too Scary!)

Happy Pride!

Here is the free official PDF of Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinberg, a nonbinary lesbian.

Here is where you can buy an official physical copy, paying only for the cost of the materials and shipping.

(Edit: Epub now included! Click here!)

TDOV was created in response to the reality that the only well-known transgender-focused day was Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is a somber day of mourning. These are some of the most impactful and visible transgender people throughout history.

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These Questions are the winners from the previous iteration.Please add new suggestions below, if you have them, for future consideration.