Local reflects on identity journey during Natl. Nonbinary Awareness Day

DELMARVA. – Identity. Everyone has one. Whether it’s race or religion, it’s what makes you, you.

For people like Cass Whitaker, their identity is something they’ve been discovering from a young age.

“My journey is still unfolding, largely,” Cass said.

Cass is nonbinary, which means they don’t conform to one gender. Instead, they use gender neutral pronouns, like they/them.

It’s an identity that they’ve embraced ever since they came out in 2019, but it’s forced them to look at life differently.

“When people are always trying to gender me or put me in a particular box of behavior, it tells me more about them than it does about me,” Cass said.

Speaking from their own experience, Cass said for youth, it can be hard navigating identity. Which is why they work to educate the community on accepting young people for who they are.

“We need to trust what young people are saying about their identity. I had my identity feelings, and my gender exploration began very young, and from a very young age, I was always told no, or was disparaged in other ways,” Cass said.

Which is why they said celebrating nonbinary awareness day is so important, because it helps them become more comfortable within their identity.

“Having a day like today really gives them something to be proud of,” Cass said. “It allows them to see themselves in the culture, it allows themselves to see themselves in the fabric of the country, and it allows them to say, ‘You know what? That’s OK. There are people like me.”