7 Talented Non-Binary People You Should Know

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7 Talented Non-Binary People You Should Know

Beyond the binary.

At the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards, co-host Ruby Rose welcomed the audience by saying “Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between.” Singer Miley Cyrus told Paper, “I don’t Relate to being boy or girl,” while Rose, says, “I wake up every day sort of gender neutral.” Genderqueer and gender variant model Rain Dove has even decided to capitalize on the heightened visibility of non-binary people as an androgynous model and “gender capitalist.” Here are 5 more talented non-binary people who should be on your radar.

1) Rae Spoon

This Canadian musician and writer has a thriving indie music career. Though they emerged as a country and roots singer, their recent music has been influenced by electronic, indie rock, and folk punk. In a 2012 interview with cartoonist Elisha Lim in Now Magazine, they explained, “After years of fighting to be called ‘he’ the idea of coming out again made me tired. But not I feel kind of rejuvenated, ready to fight some more. I think the ‘they’ pronoun is a pretty cool thing. It’s letting a lot of people not have to identify as a man or a woman. Whatever it means to them.” Spoon also published First Spring Grass Fire, a book of short stories that was nominated for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards, and co-wrote Gender Failure with Ivan Coyote. Spoon stars in the 2013 documentary, My Prairie Home.

2) Angel Haze

American rapper and singer, Angel Haze, released their second album, Back to the Woods, in 2015. Haze came out as agender in early 2015. “To be honest with you, I’m not really a girl,” Haze told Buzzfeed. “If anything, I feel more on the guy end of the spectrum.” Haze uses they/them pronouns.

3) Jacob Tobia

Genderqueer speaker, writer, and advocate Jacob Tobia was recently featured on MTV’s ‘True Life: I’m Genderqueer’. Tobia has written for numerous publications, including Huffington Post, The Nation, and Policy Mic.

4) Tom Phelan

Fans of The Fosters will recognize Tom Phelan from their role as Cole, a transgender boy placed in a group home for girls. Unlike Cole, Phelan identifies as non-binary, and uses they/them/their pronouns. Check out this exclusive interview with Phelan at SheWired.

5) Jerick Hoffer (AKA Jinkx Monsoon)

Jerick Hoffer, also known as Jinkx Monsoon, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5, identifies as genderless, explaining in a Facebook post: “I, myself do not identify as cis-gendered. I am genderless.” Hoffer uses they/them pronouns, except while in drag as Jinkx Monsoon, when they use she/her pronouns.

6) Eliot Sumner

Musician Eliot Sumner, a child of Sting, recently revealed that they don’t identify with any particular gender. “I think forever I was trying to figure out maybe … what I am,” said Sumner in an Evening Standard interview. “But I don’t think anyone should feel pressured to have any kind of label or tag on them.”

7) Miley Cyrus

Though singer Miley Cyrus hasn’t explicitly stated that she’s genderqueer, the singer talked to Out magazine about her struggle with gender identity, saying, ““I didn’t want to be a boy. I kind of wanted to be nothing. I don’t relate to what people would say defines a girl or a boy, and I think that’s what I had to understand: Being a girl isn’t what I hate, it’s the box that I get put into.” Cyrus took to Instagram and posted a screenshot of the quote, with the caption, “NOTHING can/will define me! Free to be EVERYTHING!!!!”