More than 25 Percent of LGBTQ Youth Identify as Nonbinary

A new study released just before International Nonbinary People’s Day revealed that more than 25 percent of LGBTQ youth today identify as nonbinary.

The report put out by the Trevor Project surveyed 35,000+ LGBTQ  individuals between the ages of 13 and 24. The data was compiled into the 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

The findings show just how many individuals fall under the nonbinary “umbrella.” While nonbinary can be a standalone identity, it’s also an umbrella term for a multitude of other gender identities and terms that deviate from the male-female binary. Half of nonbinary respondents also reported identifying as transgender, and another 28 percent also recorded identifying as gender nonconforming, genderfluid, genderqueer, androgynous, agender, demigirl, demiboy, genderflux, and bigender.

“Young people are using a variety of language to describe the nuances of their gender identity outside of the binary construction of gender,” says Jonah DeChants, a research scientist for the Trevor Project, “While there is certainly an overlap, youth understand ‘transgender’ and ‘nonbinary’ as distinct identity terms, and you cannot assume one’s identity simply based on the pronouns they use.”

Contrary to common, white-washed media depictions, the study also found the rates at which people of different ethnicities identified as nonbinary were “relatively comparable.” They also reported only one-third of nonbinary respondents exclusively used they/them pronouns—the majority used a combination of she/he/they, or even neopronouns. So, eat your heart out Hollywood—not every nonbinary person is an androgynous, white person. Work on your representation.

The report also enforced the importance of using a person’s correct pronouns. Nonbinary people who didn’t have anyone in their lives who respected their pronouns were the most likely to have tried to end their lives in the past year, at 27 percent. There’s a clear, proven correlation between respect for a person’s pronouns and suicide risk.

“Being that something as simple as respecting pronouns can be life-saving, we must work to expand training and improve understanding of transgender and nonbinary identities among schools, medical facilities, and youth-serving organizations and adults,” DeChants states.

Individuals whose communities used their correct pronouns reported huge spikes in happiness and gender euphoria. “It makes me extremely happy when people respect and use my correct pronouns, and I could literally happy cry,” one respondent gushes.

"Despite more visibility and public awareness, the nonbinary community, their identities, and the term itself are still widely misunderstood." #nonbinary https://t.co/H2haJxlkkV

— The Trevor Project (@TrevorProject) July 20, 2021