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International Non-Binary People’s Day
Wanneer: jaarlijks, 14 juli.
International Non-Binary People’s Day is on July 14. This day is here to raise awareness for non-binary people and focus on the importance of the emancipation of non-binary people all over the globe.
Non-Binary
How often does it happen that non-binary people are not understood? Are they wrongly addressed or assumed to be of the wrong gender? That they are supposed to be going through a certain phase? Even worse is when their existence is denied. All of these occur. That is why a day like this is desperately needed.
The idea that there is a binary system of women and men is something that a lot of people grow up with and are brought up with. That idea does not assume individuals are non-binary. Within a binary system, there are two values and nothing more. Every day, for some people, it is a struggle to have to prove otherwise. That it is not a matter of black and white or white and black.
For anyone who thinks it’s all recent, let’s go back in history for a moment. There are plenty of examples in Classical Antiquity where you could argue that non-binarity could be involved. The only problem is that the sources mentioned on various websites are not always reliable. You can read exactly what it means to be non-binary in the article by LGBT Foundation.
We'wha
One of the most famous examples in the history of a non-binary person was We’wha. Born in 1849 in North America, We’wha was among the original inhabitants of North America. Not only that, We’wa was Two-Spirit. Yes, it could spark a debate if this means that We’wha would count as being a non-binary person or not. In fact, Two Spirit breaks with the binary system. Even in 1849 when We’wha was born.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Pope Joan
There is a debate to be had about the existence of a female pope. Should the person have indeed existed, was it perhaps a non-binary person?
The chances that Pope Joan existed are not high. It involves a legend in which a woman ended up in the papal seat around 855. Incidentally, the question is whether to call it a legend or a Theophylactic Pornocracy.
There is also a considerable chance that all this was deliberately fabricated. To falsely accuse women. In addition, one might ask whether it was nothing more than that. To what extent was it not an attempt to show that attempts were being made at what were considered adjustments? Adjustments. Let’s call it that. Because that’s how people saw it. As something that was not “natural”. Indeed, in modern literature, people still describe non-binary people, along with transgender people, as “not natural” or as “against natural.” In that respect, little has changed.
Such views are not limited to just Pope Joan or the Vatican. The way society views non-binary people creates misunderstanding and sometimes even hatred. From that hatred, discrimination can arise. This can lead to excesses, such as exclusion and violence. Some countries in the world make no secret of the fact that they do not want non-binary persons along with transgender persons to be part of their society.
2012
International Non-Binary People’s Day has been around since 2012 and will be around for a while, as long as the rights of non-binary people are not equal everywhere.
