#for now i am simply aroace 'cause thinking is exhausting :3

[mitch4tune]

When I First Heard the Term "Nonbinary" and Learned About Gendered Pronouns

I believe I was fifteen or sixteen when I met an outwardly nonbinary person for the first time. I had no former knowledge of the term or really anything LGBTQ other than gay, lesbian, and trans.

I couldn't wrap my head around how someone could feel like more or less than one gender, but I went along with it and tried my best to remember their preferred pronouns 'cause I assumed "Maybe I'll understand it later. The group leaders asking what we want to be called must be an introductory thing I haven't heard of before."

Anyway, this is confirmation that someone with barely any knowledge or understanding of LGBTQ identities can be accepting. A teenager can be more respectful than a crap-ton of adults, and that baffles me.

There was also a time this guy referred to me as "he," so I corrected him and he said he just called everyone that. While he should've respected what people were comfortable with, that instance taught me that pronouns aren't the same as gender.

My alias (Mitch) also has the tendency to confuse people, and I've loved being mistaken for a guy since I was in elementary school, so I was like, "Huh. This doesn't feel bad, actually." So now I go by she/they/he to get more into character for cosplays and to remember the time I learned about enbies and preferred pronouns. ♡