Is nonbinary "trans" ?

Enby here: I'm neither a transman nor a transwoman, but trans issues affect me.

"Trans" can be a pretty large umbrella. When you get into specifics, I'm not so sure that I'm trans. But I am part of the trans community. Not trans, but also trans. Schrodinger's trans person.

Consider someone who's agender. They'd be non-binary, but they also aren't transitioning to any gender. Ask the GOP which bathroom to use and you can watch their head explode.

The definition of transgender is anyone who identifies with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. It is therefore an umbrella term that includes nonbinary genders. Being transgender and transitioning are separate things.

That being said, when people are talking about "trans people" they often mean binary trans people (ie men and women), especially in the current political context.

It's also not unheard of for some nonbinary people to be uncomfortable with calling themselves trans, presumably for the associations with binary trans people.

Edit: i should clarify, by this I mean transgender definitionally in the abstract. When talking about a specific person's identity, it just comes down how they identify. If an enby doesn't identify as trans for any reason, don't call them trans.

That is decided by each individual non binary person. If they say their trans, that's valid. If they say they aren't, also valid. Trans is an intentionally broad community, but never one that requires membership.

idk about trans, but they are gender nonconforming and part of GSM (gender and sexuality minorities).

Trans man here, IMHO being nonbinary can be paired with being trans, but not necessarily, i.e. they are not inherently the same thing.

If they have dysphoria and want to transition to alleviate it (irrespective of whether they can), then yes, they are trans.

If the extent of a nonbinary person's journey is to go by they/them, or they/them + the pronouns associated with their AGAB, then I would not categorise them as trans. To be clear, I am not saying that this is not a valid stance - just that the experience is not the same as being trans, though there may be some overlap.

Obviously you cannot work this out without intimately knowing the person, and it isn't really anyone else's business anyway, but to answer the question explicitly, I would refer to them as a nonbinary person (in the absence of further information, and where the 'nonbinary' descriptor is relevant otherwise I would just say 'person'), not a trans person.

Yes but this is where certain qualifiers come in. I've known nonbinary people for whom all it is is a personal identity. When I talk about trans issues they're rarely a part of it, because those issues rarely impact them. Inversely I've known nonbinary people who've had to grapple with getting legal recognition, getting access to surgery and hormones, and all that other stuff. Of course they're included when I talk about trans issues. At the end of the day, both and everything in between falls under the umbrella, but not all discussions about the umbrella are about everyone under it, and it's not always worth creating words for different subcategories.

Complex question.

It's really based on self identification. But most nb or fluid people I know, including myself, wont consider themselves trans. As most of the times there's not that "transition".

But of course many other nb could identify as trans and feel like they are going or has gone through a transition.

Personally, as an enby, I don’t consider myself trans as such. I have never felt I’ve transitioned, just been whatever I came as. As in my physical and psychological reality matches my identity, though I admit I’m no expert here. My struggles are mostly paperwork, nothing more.

But trans issues, politically, are almost 1:1 same, whatever the real overlap, so there’s no real meaning in the distinction. I don’t want to muddy the waters by claiming to be trans, but whatever I am or am not is neither here or there, when, whatever the answer might be, the issues are almost all shared either way.

And the label doesn’t matter one way or the other. Whatever is most respectful to most everyone, is fine for me, and I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other. But fundamentally I have been blessed, deserved or not, with no need to ever really transition as such.

For the sake of clarity, it's best to reserve the term "trans" for people who are interested in altering their body and/or dressing very differently from their birth gender. So for NBs, it'll depend on your goals.

Nonbinary person here, and yes nb people are trans. You're transitioning from one gender to another.

Trying to assert otherwise, and playing semantic word games, especially when we're all being so heavily targeted right now, is reckless and stupid. Whether an individual non-binary person feels a strong connection of the word transgender is their business, but we should all be banding together and meeting the fucking moment. Not atomizing ourselves further

Only if they consider themselves trans.

I'm nonbinary and not trans! People have tried to declare to me that nonbinary people are inherently trans. No. I will bite them. :V

-- Frost

I'm pretty sure no-one is assigned enby at birth.

In my experience, there can be very strong views on this question from people who identify as enby and/or trans. I always defer to what the enby person I am interacting with prefers identifies as, but know that what is good for the goose isn't always good for the gander. I'd always suggest asking the person you're referring to about how they personally identify, but I have had almost zero reason to ever ask. Pronouns are usually enough for day to day interactions and friends/family have always just volunteered without me asking (they'd give different responses to your question, by the way).

Edit: suggested to me that "prefer" sounds suggestive. How someone identifies isn't a preference but a fact. Crossed out in original to show what changed, and I was assured it's nitpicky but nice to not use prefer 😊

Yes, but if they signal that they don't Identify as such I would stop for them.

Technically, all non-cis are trans, but culturally I don't think non-binary really fits, I think it is conceptually different frim what most people understand trans to mean.

It is a form of transgenderism, though not necessarily the case given the technicality.

Not necessarily. If someone's intersex, for example, that could be a cis nonbinary person (if they identify as such).

Likewise you've got people who all their life haven't really felt particularly to the gender binary. Legal stuff might've still forced them into a box, though. A common definition is that of people whose gender identity doesn't overlap with the one assigned at birth.

I personally mostly use trans for people who identify as such; people who desire to change how they express their gender identity, for example. Others might have different ideas about when to use that term or not, but that's how I view it myself.

No.

They are two different things.