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- Embed this noticeI feel like recent drama is a pretty good example of why, even though nonbinaries fall under the trans umbrella, they shouldn't always refer to themselves as "trans" - and especially avoid using terms that are commonly understood to refer to binary ftm and mtf trans people, like "transman" and "transwoman". I remember having a discussion about this a few years ago which pretty much concluded with "all nonbinaries are technically trans" but I feel like there needs to be a bit more nuance to it than that.
It's a pretty complicated subject though. Like on one hand, most nb's aren't visibly trans and therefore don't experience problems visibly trans people experience, but on the other hand there are binary transgenders who are pre-transition or pass well or whatever else - should they also not refer to themselves as trans? That would be a pretty absurd claim to make. But on the other hand, I don't think a pre-transition trans person can really explain exactly what a transitioning trans person is going through, so it'd be wrong for them to talk over someone suffering through those issues - because both groups have their own specific issues.
Anyway my point is, I'm nonbinary, and I used to consider myself as trans, but I prefer not to refer to myself as "trans" anymore because I believe that it's not really my label to use. It carries a significant number of implications with it, most of which don't apply to me. If I were to go around doing transphobic shit and excusing it because I'm nonbinary and therefore technically fall under the trans umbrella, that would be pretty absurd, since it's basically just a technicality. I'm sure a lot of cis and even nonbinary people would accept that excuse, but I'm also sure it'd piss off like 99% of actually trans people. I think it ultimately comes down to there being a difference between trans-as-in-transitioning, trans-as-in-transgender, and trans-as-in-not-cis. tldr, Semantics and language are gay (the bad kind) but people and identity are gay (the gay kind).