Video Transcription

LGBTIQA+ gender and sexuality

My name’s Fox. I’m 23, and I identify as bisexual and gender-diverse. Another word for that might be non-binary—someone who doesn’t really fit into either the male or female boxes. People weren’t sure what to do with me and how to think about me. I think they just kind of ignored it and would push me into the lump sum of tutus and things like that, whereas I was really a bit of an outcast.

To me, gender is the way that I feel, who I want to see reflected in the mirror, and how I want to navigate the world.

Gender non-conformity, particularly in young children perceived to be female, has a certain level of room. You have a little space to be a tomboy, and people even encouraged me in it. When I was younger, I’d go and fix cars and things with family members. But when I got to high school and started to hit puberty, there was this sense from people around me of, “Okay, now it’s time to stop. Now it’s time to grow up,” or, I guess, “be normal,” in some people’s words.

[Music]

Sexuality is just who I happen to be attracted to or who I might fall in love with. When I first started to realize that I might be attracted to people who weren’t just of the male sex, I felt like there was something wrong with me. I felt really alone. There wasn’t anyone who would understand what I was going through at the time.

I’d say there’s no right or wrong way to describe your sexuality. If that feels like an accurate term for what you’re going through, it probably is.

Video by headspace