Nonbinary People in Northeast Ohio Share Personal Experiences

If you identify as nonbinary, gender nonconforming or intersex, you can now choose the gender marker X, on a US Passport. The US State department issued the first official passport with the X designation to Dana Zzyym in late October.

Zzyym identifies as intersex, which is a person born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the boxes of "female" or "male." Zzyym was in a legal battle with the State department for the last six years to get this third gender option on their passport, and told Weekend Edition's Scott Simon that they "gasped" when they first saw the passport, and said it was an awesome moment.

And as of May of this year, the Ohio Department of Health established new procedures that allow transgender people to 
correct the gender marker on their birth certificates, through a probate court order. That includes allowing the gender-neutral marker X.  

With these recent changes, we wanted to spend the rest of the hour talking to people who identify as nonbinary, and hear more about their personal experiences coming out as gender nonconforming. We'll ask them about the support they have received from their community, and also learn about the every day challenges they face in life.

Also this hour, we'll talk to Ideastream Public Media's Matt Richmond about his latest reporting on Cleveland's consent decree, and other recent police department news.

-Matt Richmond, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media

-Dante Foley, Drummer, Mourning the Black Star

-Lou Barrett, Writer & Owner, Purpled Palm Press 

-Kavita Sherman, Parent & Advisory Board Member, PFLAG 

-Logan Sherman, Graduate Nursing Student, The Ohio State University