Proud to tell people

Oh goody, another news story about pronoun people feeling seen at last.

It was at a ClimbingQTs event that Luce first felt “proud” to tell people they were non-binary.

Well-placed scare-quotes. People don’t need to “feel proud” to tell people they are [whatever tedious item it is]. People don’t need to feel proud all the time, especially not about invented fashionable idenninies that are of no interest to anyone but the possessor.

ClimbingQTs is an LGBTQIA+ advocacy group and the largest social climbing club in Australia.

Unfortunate wording. “Social climbing” is a pejorative for attempts to appear more classy than one was born.

Nineteen-year-old Phoebe, who is a trans woman, had a similarly positive experience.

Because she was in the process of undertaking gender-affirming care, she was mandated to see a psychologist, who recommended the group to her.

“It was nice to have other queer people, especially older people, navigating all the silly bureaucracy of getting on gender-affirming care,” she said.

Ah yes that silly bureaucracy of not rushing to put confused teenagers on cross-sex hormones.

For Luce, competitive climbing was a world away from the progressive bubble of social climbing.

Despite being non-binary, they participated in the women’s category at youth championships, given the binary nature of elite sporting competition.

Well yes. The binary nature of elite sport is because women and men are physically different. It’s not some stuffy rule imposed for no good reason; it’s about the reality of bodies. The people-making sex is not as strong as the other sex, and that’s why there are women’s categories.

But while an inclusive competition is welcome news for many gender diverse participants, Hamilton acknowledges that it does not solve the issue of trans women who want to compete in the women’s category.

Hamilton doesn’t mean the issue of men who want to invade the women’s category and need to be told No.