There was recently a post up on QuestioningTransphobia* about “Being Trans vs Having Trans Experiences”. A few of the commenters, and I believe the OP as well, talked about how it was “in the past”. Now that they’ve transitioned and live as their gender like a cis person of that gender can they no longer feel being trans is part of their present identity.

This isn’t really an option for most non-binary people (as well as binary trans people who don’t want to or are unable to transition to the point of being able to “live as their gender”). Even for non-binary people who want to and are able to medically transition, there is no “in the past” of anything beyond their surgeries. We still have to explain our gender if we want to be treated correctly, still have to navigate an inadequate binary, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll be correctly perceived not least because most people don’t know our genders exist.

I bring this up because I’ve seen a good number of non-binary people say that they don’t feel that the trans* labels are right or even that they don’t feel allowed to use them and I wonder if this might also be part of why.

*has been good about non-binary stuff in the past, but it links to horrifically anti-non-binary blogs and has still failed to get back to me about it. It’s usually binary-centric.