Discrimination against non-binary people

Nonbinary people are people who are not either solely male or female. They can be called many different things such as genderqueer, gender fluid, agender, bigender and demigender. Discrimination against people who do not identify as nonbinary is both a type of sexism and a type of transphobia. Many nonbinary people experience discrimination in their social lives, workplace, health treatment, and legal system.

Social Discrimination

A study by the National LGBTQ Task Force in 2012 showed that nonbinary people are significantly more likely to experience physical assault, police harassment, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and bullying than their binary peers. Black, Asian, and multi-racial people are more likely to identify as nonbinary. Nonbinary people are also generally young (below 45) and more highly educated. Nonbinary people were also shown to be more likely to be in poverty. They are also more likely to have attempted suicide than binary people. A 2016 study by The Journal of Sex Research showed that misgendering someone is a common form of discrimination.

Workplace Discrimination

Trans people in the USA are twice as likely as cisgender people to be unemployed. The LGBTQ+ Task Force found that almost all nonbinary people have experienced discrimination at work. They discovered that coming out as nonbinary decreases employment prospects compared to binary people. A 2012 study by the Center for American Progress showed that a third of LGBTQ+ employees felt forced into traditional gender roles to keep their jobs. It also discovered that a fourth of nonbinary people were denied bathroom access because of their gender identity. A fifth of nonbinary people reported losing their jobs because of transphobia and nearly all nonbinary people experience transphobia on the job. Most nonbinary people who transitioned in the workplace were glad they did, despite increased discrimination.