On International Non-Binary People’s Day, Jazmine Bennett reflects on the relationship between their queerness and veganism, and why justice for non-binary people and non-human animals aren’t as far apart as they seem
As a complicated human who contains multitudes, including my femininity, my non-binary identity and my veganism, I (like you) have my own unique experience of the world. This overlap, that I am not one without the other, means I experience the world around me in a way that feels detached from the ‘typical’ view of how things are (and how they could be). Both my veganism and my non-binary identity are cogs in the multitudinal mechanism of my being that mean I can’t just sit by and accept the world for what it is.
Non-binary is an umbrella term for those who, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, have “a gender identity that is not simply male or female”. For me, it’s one way of being transgender, i.e. an adjective that is “used to describe someone whose gender does not match the body they were born with”. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t assigned non-binary at birth. I know I am not a man or a woman as I squirm if I am referred to as either. For me, being called my name or ‘they’ or ‘them’ is what feels most comfortable. Many non-binary people like to be referred to by other pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘ze’ but ‘they’ or ‘them’ is good for me. Non-binary people are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community and those who are non-binary may, like myself, identify as queer.
My journeys with veganism and queerness began at quite similar times. When I was nine years old, having begun to learn about the slaughter of non-human animals, I decided I wasn't going to eat meat anymore and was met by my parents with the support I needed to be a vegetarian. A few months later, I declared during my class that I thought I was bisexual. My teacher, who was not so supportive, sent me out of the room. This isn't to say my journey through vegetarianism and veganism has been wholly supported while my queerness has been a constant battle. One of the reasons I was able to explore my queerness from a young age is because my Mum brought me up with the understanding of how natural it is, and perhaps my villain origin story was when, at 15, after having just turned vegan, some boy at school said I was “the worst type of person because [I was] a vegan and a feminist.” However, I do believe this experience in primary school is a big part of why I didn’t feel wholly comfortable with my queerness until adulthood, and felt much more stigmatised growing up due to that, than my choices to exclude exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals.
For transgender and non-binary people, this can be especially so. When I was 20 I came out as non-binary and I slowly learnt that, as backwards as we might still be on lesbian, gay and other divergent sexualities, we're even further from including those who identify as non-binary. Non-binary identities still aren't recognised in law in the UK and whether this would be a good thing is up for debate as allowing those in power to have information about our trans identities may not be safe when they may not support us. However, it’s also challenging living in a country that doesn’t recognise who you really are. Conversely, veganism was recognised as a protected belief in the UK in 2020 when Judge Postle stated that “there is overwhelming evidence before me that ethical veganism is capable of being a philosophical belief and thus a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010”.
While I’ve undoubtedly faced less stigma towards my veganism than my (gender) queerness, what is also clear to me is the unbounding influence they both have on my perspective of the world around me. Being LGBTQIA+ already means I push against the 'status quo' of living my life as a woman with a man and my darling children. Thus, the choice to diverge even further from the ‘norm’ of feasting on the flesh of non-human animals and other ‘products’ that are stolen for profit by becoming vegan was perhaps not as big a push for me as it might be for others.
I refuse to accept that the way things are is the way they should and will always be. My non-binary, feminine and working class experiences mean I am disproportionately affected by day- to- day bigotry as well as the systematic impact of colonialism and capitalism that continue to wide-reaching issues including the climate emergency, cost of living crisis and strains on healthcare. All of these things mean I have a shorter life expectancy and lower quality of life. I am less likely to be taken seriously by a doctor if I tell them I’m in pain, it’s harder for me to exercise as folk in this area seem to be so caught up in dividing people into ‘men’ and ‘women’ and I can’t afford to upgrade my home to protect myself from rising temperatures and worsening storms. Living at this intersection has made it impossible for me to ignore the plights of other oppressed groups across the world who are also disproportionately affected including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) communities, indigenous peoples, migrants, and non-human animals. I refuse to accept the normalised cruelty that tells us consuming non-human animals is okay and natural as much as the cruelty that tells us being non-binary isn’t.
Jazmine Bennett is a non-binary UK based writer, thinker and activist. They've been vegan since 2016 and have an interest in justice, intersectionality and thinking beyond systems of oppression.
Justice for non-human animals and trans and non-binary people are inextricably linked and on this International Non-Binary People’s Day I urge you to fight and advocate for both.
The views expressed by our bloggers are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
