History on Non-binary
By Vivi
In this post, I will write a brief history on non-binary people, mainly in the US.
Early Times
While it wasn't until the 1990s when the term "transgender" was used widely, there has been non-binary people throughout history.
・ Gala and galli (priests assigned male at birth who cross genders in their worship of a variety of goddesses in ancient Sumer, Akkadia, Greece, and Rome)
・Two-spirit people within Indigenous communities
・ Hijra (nonbinary people who inhabit ritual roles in South Asia)
Mid-20th century
During the 1950s, transgender rights activists started to push for wider societal acceptance in the US.
・1952 - Christine Jorgensen became the first visible transsexual in the media in the US
・1959 - Transgender people, drag queens, and others fought back against Los Angeles police who had been targeting trans women in random arrests at Cooper Do-nuts (a café popular with the LGBTQ community)
・1960 - Establishment of Transvestia (magazine for the transgender and gender-nonconforming community)
・1969 - Stonewall Uprising (a series of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City)
・1977 - Renée Richards, a transgender woman, wins a legal battle to compete in the U.S.
・1980s and 1990s - Continued legal battles for recognition of transgender identities, including challenges related to employment, housing, and healthcare.
・ 1999 - Transgender activist Monica Helms designed the transgender pride flag
21st Century
Legal recognition for non-binary people became prominent.
・2012 - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on gender identity
・2015 - The Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges recognizes same-sex marriage
・2020 - The Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County extends Title VII protections to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Blakemore, E. (2022, June 24). How historians are documenting the lives of transgender people. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-historians-are-documenting-lives-of-transgender-people
Thank you for sharing the history on gender related topics. Nowadays, the cultural clash is so violent that it is difficult to understand both radical and conservative opinions surrounding gender. Most of the people in my community (including me) are rather sceptical about the political implications of the LGBTq, mainly because of Orthodoxy, honestly. My godmother for instance is a doctor, and she once told me that she was bothered when a patient compelled her to refer to the person with the pronoun ZE(?) or something similar, I am not sure. She was confused and bothered, because as a doctor, it is important to know the natural biological gender (of course). It is such a controversial topic, nowadays it is fire, as it were. Sometimes, even genuinely conservative people without any bad intentions get verbally attacked, and accused of being bygot, transphobic, etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in my opinion, even the self proclaimed liberal people are sometimes the least liberal people, not acknowledging conservative principles, harrassing people using the victim card. But on the other spectrum, conservatives think that their ideas are the only true path, denying radical ideas, deeming them as non-sense.
All in all, every individual must be respected with dignity, without any discrimination, no matter their gender, ethnicity, mindset etc. We also have to be intelligent enough to be able to hold genuine, respectful discourse with those with whom we might disagree with. I also have a queer friend, though I'm a rather conservative person. But it is not hard to have mutual respect regardless of differing political views. When watching pointless conflicts on SNS platforms or youtube, I always wonder where respect and courtesy has gone... it does not matter whether you are liberal or conservative, we are all the same after all.
Thank you for this insightful post. I think the topic of transgender rights continues to be a very controversial topic til this day because it isn't only about ensuring the safety and equality of transgender people but also trying to encorporate gender inclusivity in what was originally a cisgender centered community. Especially on the topic of public bathrooms and trans athletes, it requires a lot of discussion on how to maintain balance of equality for both trans and cisgender people.
ReplyDeleteI could never come to a conclusion on what would be the best solution for these issues. I've heard somewhere, probably in Kabukicho that a genderless bathroom was installed for inclusivity, but I saw many videos of men loitering around in the bathroom and creating an unsafe environment for women and possibly actual transgender people to use. There are already issues with hidden camera's and sexual assault that women go through in Japan, so it would be extremely narrow-minded to say that people who are against genderless bathroom are transphobic. To create spaces that everyone could use is important, but it could lead to a dangerous situation if you're not conscious about how it could be used in harmful ways.
Same with trans atheletes as well. As much as I believe that they should be able to compete, there is a question of if it is fair for the cisgender atheletes. You could argue that regardless of sex, your body and physical ability would be different from other people's, but then what even is the point of separeting men and women's sports at all?
I think the most important thing is that we have these conversations without antagonizing transgender people or people who have concerns about gender inclusive spaces. The debate around these topics are always so hostile and unproductive.
My opinion is that perhaps there are issues such as sexual crimes that needs to be tackled first to make these things possible.