Beyond the Gender Binary

by Alok Vaid-Menon

This is what happens when fear becomes stronger than need: The body becomes its own closet.

I said that I was scared that I would have to compromise my safety for my authenticity, but I needed to do this to survive.

My friends told me that even though I could lose a lot, I never had to worry about losing them. Surrounded by the people who loved me for me, I realized I finally had other people to support me in my journey. That made all the difference.

People in power make hierarchies and stereotypes seem natural in order to make inequality seem inevitable and permanent.

Medical intervention does not make trans people more “real” than others, and it should be a personal choice, not a societal mandate. This type of thinking is especially dangerous when gender-inclusive healthcare is so expensive and inaccessible to most trans and nonbinary people across the world.

we should embrace ongoing transformation as a necessary part of what it means to be alive.