Breaking Binary Boundaries
The genderqueer comedians challenging nonbinary stereotypes
This Sunday, March 31 is the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, an occasion to celebrate and elevate the lives of trans and nonbinary people worldwide. Here in the U.S., loving support and recognition is especially needed for trans folks who are the targets of hateful, discriminatory legislation drafted by state lawmakers. Sharing accurate information about us can help change hearts and minds.
As my regular readers know, I am trans and nonbinary (agender/transmasculine) myself, and do volunteer work to improve representation of our community on Wikipedia. So when I saw that a genderqueer comedy special, Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda, was coming to Netflix this month, I searched the encyclopedia for the names of the featured comedians. Only three of them — Hannah Gadsby, ALOK, and DeAnne Smith — had existing articles, which was not entirely surprising. I decided to write the remaining five biographies myself, for Jes Tom, Chloe Petts, Krishna Istha, Asha Ward, and Mx. Dahlia Belle.
