#nonbinary youth

[allthecanadianpolitics]

More than half of non-binary youth in Canada are avoiding team sports due to discrimination, with only 11 per cent of non-binary youth currently participating, new research from Simon Fraser University has found. According to the first-of-its-kind 2023 Canadian Non-Binary Youth in Sport Report, 66 per cent of non-binary youth have avoided joining an organized team sport because they would have to play on a gendered men’s or women’s team, with four in five fearing locker room layouts. More than half the participants who currently play team sports have also witnessed discriminatory comments, and more than 16 per cent have witnessed physical harassment because of a person’s gender as well, the study found. “We see in our numbers that there is a lot of exclusion and discrimination occurring in sport,” lead author Martha Gumprich told Global News. “We know that physical activity is can improve someone’s mental and physical health, and this is especially important for the LGBTQ+ community. As we know, they have worse mental health outcomes than those who are heterosexual or cisgender. By making sport safer for everyone, everyone benefits.”

Continue Reading.

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[profeminist]

A specialist in adolescent medicine explains what it means to provide gender-affirming care and why it’s so important for transgender and nonbinary youth.

"New policies regarding LGBTQIA+ rights have been in the news recently, and the potential impact could be far-reaching — much of it directly affecting transgender and nonbinary youth.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 2% of high school students identify as transgender, and of those 27% felt unsafe at school, 35% had been bullied at school, and 35% had attempted suicide in the past year.

One way to support transgender youth and improve outcomes for their mental health and overall well-being is by providing gender-affirming care, says Dr. Jane Chang, an associate attending pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital and associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“Gender-affirming care, at its most basic level, is about validating and supporting children and loving them for who they are as they explore their gender identity,” says Dr. Chang, who specializes in adolescent medicine.

Read the full piece here: https://healthmatters.nyp.org/what-to-know-about-gender-affirming-care-for-children-and-adolescents/

Related: Indiana bill banning gender-affirming care signed into law

U.S. readers, register to vote here

[stripedwolf88]

I don't ever want to hear someone claim that transgender people and youth are not still under attack. This young kid was killed because of ignorance and indifference. I honestly hope that the kids that killed them are held responsible. Not just to punish but as a follow through to say that this was wrong. What they did to Nex was beyond horrible and they need to be held accountable.

It is absolutely ridiculous the lack of media attention their death is getting. Not to mention that Nex has repeatedly been misgendered and deadnamed by multiple media outlets that have decided to report on it.

And just as a reminder, this blog is a transgender and nonbinary safe space.

[just-a-laughingstock]

WHAT ARE THE ODDS!?!

For context, I’m non-binary. And my chosen name is Lake!

[ford-ftm-150]

I had a wholesome queer encounter today. I was hanging out with my relatives & my cousin’s friend commented on my pins, one of which was this one:

Around 20 minutes later the same kid runs up to me & asks “Are you trans?” I say yes. “I’m nonbinary!” they say & then run off to continue playing. They couldn’t have been older than 13 or 14. That interaction made my night. Queer kids are the best.

[sheltiechicago]

Sasakiavins’ Dignified Portraits of London’s Nonbinary Youth

A chain straightens against a body in motion; two bridge piercings lightly punctuate a pair of open green eyes; a person’s thigh bears a tattoo of a hot dog, labelled ‘FREUD.’ London-based photography duo Sasakiavins’ debut book, Spring, is a near-wordless work of portraiture, following 20 nonbinary artists through the course of hours-long unstructured sessions. Without context or background detail, the photographs evoke a kind of soft curiosity: who are these people? What have we caught them in the middle of doing? What unseen object is their gaze directed to?

[liberaljane]

Protect Queer and Trans Kids ⚡️

Digital art of a queer nonbinary teen with glasses and a beanie wearing a rainbow shirt with their back to us. They have a striped long sleeve on and red pants with a star patch. Text reads, ‘schools should be a safe place for queer and trans kids.’

[a-gay-poptart]

Say their name.

CW AND TW: CHILD DEATH

Say.

Their.

Name.

Nex Benedict was a indigenous trans nonbinary teenager. Their head was beaten against the floor in a bathroom stall. Less than 24 hours later, they died, most likely from undiagnosed head trauma. Conservatives say they want to, "protect the children", where was the protection for Nex? That's the thing. There wasn't any. Nex died. And many more trans, queer, and nonbinary minors will if we don't step up and do something. What happened to Nex has and will happen to queer folk around the globe. Say their name.

Edit: I didn't expect this to get much attention, but thank you everyone. What alot of people, "forget" to mention was that Nex was two spirited, which means they were indigenous. The fact that I wouldn't have heard about this if I didn't have Tumblr is absolutely revolting. News needs to be covering this. But what are Republicans doing? Sucking their thumbs and crying about how, "trans people shouldn't be able to piss". What are Democrats doing? Twiddling their thumbs and groveling to an old geezer that somehow falls up the stairs and supports I$r3@l. It's disgusting and America needs to do better.

Edit 2: Any and all hate/saying that Nex Benedict wasn't murdered (they were) will immediately get deleted, just because you don't like trans people doesn't mean you can be an whiny little bitch. A child was murdered. This has nothing to do with politics, a child was murdered.

[our-trans-youth-experience]

Rest in Power, Nex Benedict

A 16 year old kid who loved nature and looking after their cat Zeus. Who enjoyed reading, watching the Walking Dead, and playing Ark and Minecraft. They loved to cook and would often make up their own recipes. They did well in school, being a straight-A student. Rest in power a teen who was human and had interests and ambitions and challenges and friendships. A trans youth who was brutally murdered just for being trans, when that was only a fragment of who they were as a person.

Nex Benedict, Jacob Williamson, Brianna Ghey, and other trans youth like them were real people with real lives. They deserved better, longer, happier lives. They deserved to grow up and not fear for their lives. They deserve to be remembered as who they were, not just as another trans kid who was killed, as people with families and normal human lives.

[celinedijjons-blog]

What beauty is, I know not, though it adheres to many things.

[tigerrsmn]

Twin Cities vigil for Nex Benedict, organized by Thomas Edison High Gender and Sexuality Alliance.

[just-a-laughingstock]

My Dad's Fiancee is Making him Worse

Okay I just need to vent about my opinion on my Dad's new fiancee.

(triggers in the tags, tell me if I need to add more)

Okay, I'm currently 17. My parents got divorced when I was 14.

My Dad has recently got engaged to another woman. I had no problem with this fact since it's his life and he has the right to be happy. But I feel like she's making him worse. He's gotten much more religous and political. He was already political but he's just gotten worse now.

So I came out to my parents as Bisexual when I was about 10. I told them that I liked both men and woman (Mainly woman), and they were pretty accepting. As I got older and they realized that this wasn't a phase, they began to fully accept me. They even got me a pride flag for my 13th birthday. Than we I was 12 (before the divorce) I came out as nonbinary. They were less accepting but I wrote it off as them being born in a different time and they'd come around. I was correct with my Mom. Since right now she has changed all my names in her phone, to my preferred name, and she's working on getting into the habit of calling me they/them pronouns.

I wish I could say it was the same for my Dad. He refused to acknowledge me being non-binary, but at the very least he accepted me being bi. I assume it was due to the fact that he didn't have any sons, so me being bi gave him someone to talk about girls with. He was very accepting of my bisexuality to the point he would bring me around pretty woman just to see me get flustered. He didn't deny my attraction.

Than he met his current fiancee. It started off fine, and I quite enjoyed being near her since she was very nice. But my (already conservative) Dad has seemed to be pushed further right since meeting her. He refused to call me by my preferred name or pronouns since they "weren't grammatically correct". (Please not he's a writer. He's a writer who has never heard of singular they.) Whenever I'd try to correct him he would get very aggressive and act like this was a matter of opinion and not a fact. He's especially get upset when I'd point out when he used singular they.

Well I just got back from my most recent visit and I feel like shit. Two days before I left, he decided to talk about me being queer. It started off shitty with him talking about how drag queens didn't belong in schools and how trans people should keep it private and not talk about it. I argued against him and brought up how drag queens are just people wearing costumes, and trans people have a right to exist.

This led into a annoying "discussion" of the queer community. He than said that I wasn't bi because I have "never been in a relationship". Ignoring me when I said that I was attracted to woman and almost exclusively pictured myself in relationships with them. He got even more upset when I stated that his step-kids weren't straight because they have never been in a relationship either. He than stated being straight was "normal" and implied being queer is a "mental deficiency". He got upset when he brought up nature, so I brought up multiple species of animal that engage in homosexuality and how homosexuality benefits the ecosystem. He than implied that as woman it's my purpose to bear children. Something that made me begin crying since I had spoken to him about my tokophobia, and how I never wanted to have children in the past.

He brought up how he believed that the "devil was affecting the Earth" and part of his plans is the queer community. I got aggressive and he stated that I should respect his beliefs since he "respected me". As he was saying that the queer community was evil and preying on children. At one point I even brought up that if showing queer couples is "grooming children to be gay" than showing straight couples is grooming children to be straight. He than outright stated he would "Groom them to be straight a million times before he let someone groom them to be gay". When I called him out on it he defended himself with the whole being queer is a "mental deficiency" thing.

He than compared a trans person telling children that it's okay to be trans, to him telling queer children that they're wrong. When I called him out he defended himself by calling trans people "groomers". He stated he would spend his whole paycheck to make sure trans people aren't allowed in sports and their preferred restroom.

He than defended himself by saying he's not homophobic since he once tried to hire a gay black man to his work. Implying that hiring a gay person is doing them some kind of honor (I'm also not sure what him being black had to do with anything). Shortly after that he admitted he would never hire someone with pronouns on their resume because they're too "needy and emotional". Stating they are a detrament to the job. After this he said he doesn't even call his employee's by their name (preferred or legal) because they aren't their own person on shift. And he has no issue threatening to fire his employees for the crime of being too depressed to go into work for one day. That he had no symapthy about their hardships because they're his employees and they should always come into work.

I'm beginning to now feel like the Dad I loved is gone. He went from someone I greatly respected and looked up to, into someone I never want to speak to again. And I don't know what to do anymore.

[aaa-battery-not-rechargeable]

i met a queer high schooler today, at my job

throughout the interaction i had with them, i watched them become more relaxed and open, simply seeing me as a queer adult doing my job

i sort of feel like i served as an example for that student, of a queer person existing successfully in society.

i could pick up on their habits mannerisms and fashion, and related my own experiences to that. they were visibly disabled, so i wanted to ease their mind about accessibility concerns in the building, so i mentioned my heart condition and trouble with walking up stairs. they were immediately more comfortable. we used the elevator

i complimented their nonbinary pride flag bracelet, and pushed my hair aside so they could see my name badge with my pronouns, and they smiled.

it's so freeing to be seen without the expectation for any explanation, and i know that so i wanted to give them that peace of mind. i wanted to show them that the world outside of high school is survivable. hope is not crushed, i am here, i am visibly queer, and so it is possible for them too.