Canada is the first country to provide census data on transgender and non-binary people

Statistics Canada has provided the first insight into the number of transgender people in the country. Beginning in 2021, the precision of “at birth” was added to the sex question on the census questionnaire, and a new question on gender was included.

They write:

Of the nearly 30.5 million people in Canada aged 15 and older living in a private household in May 2021, 100,815 were transgender (59,460) or non-binary (41,355), accounting for 0.33% of the population in this age group.
The proportions of transgender and non-binary people were three to seven times higher for Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2006, 0.79%) and millennials (born between 1981 and 1996, 0.51%) than for Generation X (born between 1966 and 1980, 0.19%), baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965, 0.15%) and the Interwar and Greatest Generations (born in 1945 or earlier, 0.12%).

The increase in the number of trans people across generations reflects an increased acceptance of gender variance.

expiredchocolate asked

How do I tell my teachers im a girl. I have a very androgynous face and wear kinda baggy clothes and they always think I’m a boy. I’m already a semester into the yearr

crossdreamers answered

How to tell your teachers about your gender identity

You haven’t told me if you were assigned male or female at birth, but I suppose the challenges you are facing will be similar regardless. They see you as a boy, while you are – in fact – a girl.

This is not a good place to be, as your identity will be invalidated nearly every time they talk to you. That hurts.

The only way to get around this is to make them understand that you are a girl, and for that to happen, you will have to tell them.

Their reaction to this will often depend on where you are and what culture your teachers are part of. This especially applies if you are a transgender girl.

Where I live, in Norway, this is normally a simple affair. Teachers will most likely accept your identity. Indeed, that is expected of them. In other parts of the world, as in parts of Texas and Florida or in Russia and Hungary, the reactions might be negative.

So I would recommend that, regardless of where you are, that you tell them in one of two ways:

If you have a favorite teacher, who you know is supportive of LGBTQA people and gender diversity, talk to them first. They will probably know how you can get the rest of the teachers to accept you for who you are. They will also know if it makes sense to bring in the Principal, so that they can inform the staff about your identity.
It also helps to have some friends or allies that are with you when you tell teachers and others about who you really are. This could be a supportive adult or some of your fellow students.

The bottom line is: Find someone who can stand by your side when you tell them.

PS: I love Studio Ghibli films too!

Janelle Monáe, nonbinary actor, songwriter and author, publishes science fiction book about queer and trans freedom

Janelle Monáe just came out publicly as nonbinary. She has now published The Memory Librarian, a collection of short stories written together with other authors, all set in the android universe presented in her EPs and albums.

Monáe presents androids as liberated beings threatening the status quo of a totalitarian society. It is not hard to see how they, their gender fluidity and their power of imagination helps us understand the liberating role of LGBTQA culture today.

They also help us understand why both right wing extremists and left wing transphobes do their best to stop them from freeing the world from the tyranny of sexism, racism and conformity.

Many of the characters are queer or nonbinary, including Seshet, who comes to love a trans woman named Alethia.

Janelle Monáe’s First Fiction Breaks Open the Literary Space

Anonymous asked

I like to crossdress is that ok

crossdreamers answered

Crossdressing is OK!

Of course it is. You do what you need to feel good about yourself.

I understand “crossdressing” as an act, not as an identity. It is an act where someone dress up in clothing that is, for them, normally associated with another gender than the one they were assigned at birth.

There are many reasons for crossdressing:

I can be a form of artistic performance, as in drag, where someone present the gender roles and gender expressions of society in new ways, so that we all can learn more about them.
It can be an exploration of the masculinity and/or femininity of ones own psyche – a way to get in touch with other sides of one’s own self, beyond the binary.
It can be part of a transgender journey, where you try out ways of expressing your true gender, anchoring yourself in who you truly are.
Or it might simply be because you think it is fun, no more reflection needed.

Crossdressing is OK!

Photo: MesquitaFMS

Janelle Monáe comes out as nonbinary

I suppose we have known for some time, but now it is official, the talented music maker and actor Janelle Monáe has told the world that they are nonbinary.

This was on the April 20 episode of “Red Table Talk” (via NBC News), where Monáe said:

“I’m nonbinary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely. I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ And if I am from God, I am everything. I am everything. But I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything that I am. Beyond the binary.”

Variety has more.

mattxiv writes: “sadly the assignment was not understood”

I did manage to track down the shirts on Etsy, and they are no longer marketed as women’s or men’ shirts (I am glad to say).

There are still two separate pages, though, one with the female model and one with the male one.

Colombia becomes first Latin American country to legally recognize non-binary people

Xtra writes:

In a March 1 ruling, the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled that non-binary people should have the right to “opt out” of male and female gender markers on official documentation. This population deserves the “same guarantees of those who identify officially as binary,” the court wrote in a decision obtained by the Agence France Presse (AFP) news wire.
The court further ruled that the National Registry of Civil Status discriminated against 40-year-old plaintiff Dani García Pulgarín by forbidding her from fully correcting the gender on her citizenship card. Known as a cédula de ciudadanía, Colombians use them for everything from voting to job applications.

More here.

Photo: Juana Miyer/Long Visual Press/Abacapress.com

GenderCool Project

The GenderCool Project is a youth-led movement bringing positive change to the world.

Kyiv Pride asks you to help Ukraine against Putin

Diva reports:

Kyiv Pride [in Ukraine] released an English language statement, asking their supporters across the world to “call on your governments to stand up and to take action against the war in Ukraine”.
This came alongside the group’s message of resistance in Ukrainian, saying “We remain strong, we are not intimidated. Putin will break all his teeth trying to bite us.”
“We have left far behind the past to which he seeks to draw us. We are a country that has chosen the values of human rights, humanity, life and personality.”
“Putin lives in the past, he has a place there.”

Another thing you can do: Share your support for Ukraine in social media!

[Image: Tweet from @KyivPride: “To all our supporters in the world: Call on your governments to stand up and to take action against the war in Ukraine! We need to stop it now, we need to show how powerful we are all together, and Putin will stand no chance!”]

This is Charlie, the world’s first half-male, half-female, dual-gender stick insect discovered

Pink News reports:

Charlie is a green bean stick insect, or Diapherodes gigantea, who belongs to stick insect breeder Lauren Garfield who lives in Waldringfield, Suffolk.
Garfield shared photos of Charlie to her Facebook page, and said that she had “accidentally” bred a “gynandromorphic” stick insect.
A gynandromorph is a creature, usually an insect or a bird, that is both male and female at the same time. The two sexes of the animal are often split down their midline.

More here.