#representation: nonbinary

Character: Angel Jose

From: Craig of the Creek

Representation: LGBT+ -- Non-binary, Latinx* (maybe)

Their Importance: Angel is a non-binary child in a children’s show. So not only can kids see them, the show also demonstrates that young people can be non-binary. Angel’s gender is never discussed, but other characters refer to them with they/them/their pronouns, introducing that pronoun being used in the singular to kids as well. Furthermore, while many examples of non-binary characters in media are aliens or otherwise supernatural, Angel is human.

Note: I put Latinx as maybe because Angel has a Spanish-speaking mother, but I don’t know if they are Latinx or Spanish. Angel is pale, which could be a result of having a lot of European blood while still having a family that hails from Latin America, or it could mean that the family comes from Spain. 

Character: Aleks/Alexis

From: Somebody Told Me

Representation: LGBTQIA+ (Bigender, Nonbinary), Jewish, Sexual Assault Survivor

Their Importance: Somebody Told Me tells the story of bigender teen Aleks/Alexis who abruptly flees their home after an unspoken trauma. They move in with their Catholic preacher uncle and realise that they can overhear confessions from their room. This motivates them to anonymously help the congregation with their problems before realising that there’s something truly sinister going on in their new community. Aleks/Alexis is bigender, a particularly rarely portrayed nonbinary identity and they regularly flip between feeling and presenting as different gender. A large part of the story is the conflict between Aleks/Alexis’s liberal Jewish family and the narrow fundamentalism of their new surroundings even as they unexpectedly find good people and allies in the congregation.

It’s later revealed that the trauma that drove Aleks/Alexis from their original social circle was being sexually assaulted at a fan convention. This, alongside other toxic and bigoted idea can thrive in fandom circles and little social attention is paid to this. Aleks/Alexis coming to terms with what happened, permanently ending their relationship with those involved and being motivated is an integral part of the story ad is an empowering survivor narrative. 

From: The Stormlight Archive

Representation: Nonbinary

Their Importance: The Sibling is one of three major bondsmith spren on Roshar, the setting of the Stormlight Archive. What they are is fairly complicated, as this is a fantasy book series. Spren are nonhuman characters, sort of sentient manifestations of concepts. The Sibling is the spren of the tower of Urithiru, the base of power of the Knights Radiant, more or less the "heroes" of the story. Their "siblings" are the Stormfather, the masculine spren of storms, and the Nightwatcher, a mysterious feminine spren that grants boons and curses. Most if not all other spren have a masculine or feminine gender, but the Sibling does not. They express this explicitly, and are always referred to with they/them pronouns. 

The Stormfather is the child of the god Honor, the Nightwatcher is the child of the goddess Cultivation, and the Sibling is the child of both.

Issues: Nonbinary characters are notoriously often non-human characters. However, spren are very prevalent and major characters in this series, and most if not all of the others do have an explicitly masculine or feminine gender. So the Sibling's nonbinary identity isn't simply because they aren't human.

Character: Ben De Backer

From: I Wish You All the Best

Representation: LGBTQIA+ (Nonbinary -- NBLM),  Anxiety

Their Importance: There isn’t a lot of representation of AMAB nonbinary people.  Ben has already had their big realisation and there isn’t as much identity-related exposition as previous stories with onbinary characters. Ben experiences rejection from their parents and discrimination and also has a very supportive sister and a group of affirming friends who help to lift their confidence. They also suffer from an anxiety disorder as a result of the discrimination they endure which results in several realistically depicted panic attacks. In the end they enter a very sweet and supportive romantic relationship with Nathan  which is a welcome development after all that angst. There are several scenes where they visit a therapist who gives useful advice about living with the condition.

Issues: The whole plot revolves around the heavy transphobia/anti-nonbinary bigotry that Ben’s parents subject them to and there are several vivid panic attack scenes.

Character: Dr. Jared Hel

From: Jar of Rebuke (podcast) 

Representation: Asexual, Nonbinary, ADHD, Anxiety, PTSD

Their Importance: Jared is the main character in the podcast, he shows romantic attraction towards a character named Darius. He is clearly queer, even if labels haven't been used in the podcast itself. Also, his voice actor is an asexual/nonbinary voice actor as well! The podcast is actually full of canonically LGBTQA+ characters, even in just the first few episodes.

While it hasn’t been explicitly stated in the show yet, he has had flashbacks, panic attacks, and has been described as having hyperfixations as well. 

Issues: The representation listed for Jared hasn’t officially been confirmed in the podcast in-canon yet, but the writer and voice actor for him has confirmed it on social media/streams and it has been stated that it WILL be canonically confirmed. His asexuality has been heavily implied, but only stated as canon so far on social media.

The world of Baker Thief is one where gender variance and are so mainstream that there’s hardly worth remarking on. The very diverse cast are completely contented with their identities and there are no tiresome exposition monologues to slow up the action - it’s taken for granted that the audience knows what all these niche labels are. This is a very refreshing variation on every other nb and/or aspec-related story I’ve read which feature plenty of clunky explanation scenes.

Character: Claire/Claude

Representation: Aromantic, Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Plus-Sized

Their Importance: Claire/Claud is literally the first aspec character I’ve come across that doesn’t spend any time angsting over their status. The same goes for their nonbinary identity. There are also several (factual not-particularly-fetish-y) descriptions of their large figure which is a nice twist on the mainstream image of a nonbinary person which is skinny and androgynous.

Character: Adele

Representation: Aspec (Demisexual)

Their Importance: She‘s a highly driven and morally upright investigator. She casually comes out as demi in an early scene and it’s simply one of several aspects of her character. She has a deliberately ambiguously relationship with Claire, which plays with the conventions of mainstream romance.

Character: Roger Briagado-Fischer

Representation: MLM

Their Importance: A major part of the first season is the deeply moving messages he sends to his husband Alexandre which is the main source of emotional moments. Also, having a male/male relationship as a major center of a story with no mention of homophobia or indication that it’s unusual still isn’t common enough.

Character: Alexandre

Representation: LGBTQIA+ (MLM, nonbinary), Brazillian, depression

Their Importance: In the 2nd season we also hear his responses to his husband’s messages, which shows just how strong and deep their relationship is. His heritage is relevant as he frequently quotes poets from the same background in his recordings and he also has several lines of Portuguese. In the 2nd season he talks extensively about suffering depression after a trauma and seeing a therapist to help resolve it which is presented as a completely normalised thing. He’s also nonbinary as is shown in the episode descriptor where he’s stated to use both he and they pronouns.

Character: Ashwini Ray

Reprsentation: Nonbinary

Their Importance: Zei’s eccentric and reclusive and morally ambigious in a genuinely cnvincing and interesting way. Having a nonbinary character who use neopronouns (ze/zir) who is just another member of the crew is still unusual, particularly for AMAB people. Ze also gets a good line about respecting other people’s pronouns. Ze’s also voiced by a nonbinary voice actor.

Character: Michelle L’anglois

Representation: Trans man

Their Importance: The hot-headed and blunt head of security. A lot of the stories with trans characters cast them as helpless victims so having a more domineering, passionate character who is also, frankly quite a jerk a lot of the time was refreshing. Having a trans male character who’s a bit older and in a position of authority was also a The fact that he’s had little done to physically transition and has a more feminine-sounding voice is never used to invalidate his identity. He’s also voiced by a trans voice actor.

Issues: A major part of his backstory is based around an incident where he was subjected to friendly fire motivated by transphobia

Character: Nessa Cheong

Representation: Korean, LGBTQIA+ (aromantic/alloaromantic)

Their Importance: She’s the only alloaro** I’ve seen in anything. Contrary to stereotype she is a kind person and has fondness for her past partners even without romantic attachment and is mentioned to have much-adored children of her own. This is particularly significant as Alloaros are particularly popular targets of vitriol as they’re commonly assumed to be cold and manipulative to sexual partners and incapable of deep emotional relationships at all. She explains her orientation with a beautiful colour metaphor in the 5th episode of season 2. 

**Does not desire romantic attraction while still desiring sex.

Issues: She tragically dies in an accident mid-way through the series. One of her focus scenes is her recalling a past attempt at a romantic relationship with an a(ro)phic partner who attempted to intimidate her over her orientation.

Character: Wilder

Representation: LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, nonbinary, polyamorous), disabled (has prosthetics)

Their Importance: Wilder is just about the only crew member free of major angst and dysfunction (mostly). She’s another casually portrayed nonbinary character who goes by “they” a well as “she” pronouns. Another prominent part of her characterisation is her tinkering with her prosthetic arm. Unlike most other depictions of sci-fi prosthetics she still has realistic, relatable disabilities like pain in the affected limb and having to carefully monitor the prosthetic in case of malfunction. In episode 8 of the second season she conforms that she’s “gay as hell” and she also speaks fondly about the two women she’ in a triad with which is implied to be a normal part of the setting.

Issues: As the official description calls it as a “sci-fi tragedy” you can guess that there’s an overall pessimistic atmosphere and strong implications of an unhappy ending (though we still have another season to go).

Character: Paintbrush

From: Inanimate Insanity 

Representation: Nonbinary 

Their Importance: There are not very many nonbinary characters in media. And while it is not made by an official company, the show’s fan base is mostly kids, and it is important for them to be exposed to these topics. There also is quite an impactful scene in season 2 where one of their few friends realizes they are nonbinary, and it shows how happy they are that someone finally understands them. The two then have a brief exchange about how Paintbrush is unsure if anyone else even knows that other genders exist. From then on, their friend supports them and even drops a hint to other contestants on at least one occasion that there are more than two genders.

Issues: Earlier in the show, there are quite a few jokes made about their gender. This includes: calling them “it”, insisting that they must be whatever gender the others assumed they were, or calling them a freak of nature. However, it should be noted that the creators were early high schoolers at the time, and have since changed and started handling this topic, along with others, better.