Hey, humans, NeuroRebel here, and June is pride month, so this month the content is going to be a little bit different on my channel. I’m going to be talking a little bit more about Queer LGBTQIA issues this month, instead of just Autism and NeuroDiversity issues this month.

I hope that we’ll be okay with most of you viewers, considering that there is a very large overlap between being Autistic and LGBTQIA.

Transcript

Hey humans.

Ooh, let’s get this microphone over here.

Let’s bring this over here so you can actually hear me.

Hey, humans, NeuroRebel here, and June is pride month, so this month the content is going to be a little bit different on my channel. I’m going to be talking a little bit more about Queer LGBTQIA issues this month, instead of just Autism and NeuroDiversity issues this month.

I hope that we’ll be okay with most of you viewers, considering that there is a very large overlap between being Autistic and LGBTQIA.

There are  many of us Autistic people who are falling into both of these camps. So, if you want to know more about that, please stay tuned.

Hey humans, my name is Lyric Homans and I am a late discovered Multipli neurodivergent adult. Late meaning I didn’t find out that I was Autistic until I was 29 or that I had ADHD until I was 33.

I am also a non-binary human who uses they them pronouns. I’m light-skinned, mixed race, in my mid thirties with short green, teal and purple peacock themed hair.

I’m currently sitting in an RV, which we live in full time.  We’ve been staying near Austin, Texas.

I’m wearing a black t-shirt with a rainbow infinity that says “Autistic and proud ABA is abuse” on the front of it and a black fedora hat.  I also have a neck chain with a little rainbow pendant on it as well.

In addition to being a Queer non-binary Autistic, NeuroDivergent human. LGBTQ issues are very important to me and this channel because there is a fairly reasonable percentage of Autistic people who also consider themselves to be LGBTQ.

In fact, I recently did a poll on Twitter of 3,670 Autistic people. It was a one question poll where I asked: Autistic people, do you consider yourself to be LGBTQIA plus?

75.3% of them said yes and only 24.7% of them said no.

Now, I know this is a Twitter poll, and this is not scientific because yes, it is Twitter but if 75.3% of 3,670 Autistic people consider themselves LGBTQ, this is enough to raise an eyebrow on and I’ve got some eyebrows that I can definitely do some raising with.

I realize some of you are new and so you may not understand some of the basics around LGBTQIA terminology, and that’s fine. That’s why this month to kick off the month, I’m going to do this video to give you a basic outline of some facts for if you are new to pride month and these specific topics.

First, before we dive in, LGBTQIA is an umbrella for people’s gender identities and sexual orientations and sexual orientation is separate from someone’s gender identity. That is something people often confuse and they will call someone’s gender identity, their sexual orientation, and that’s not accurate.

Sexual orientation is the gender or genders of people that someone is attracted to if they are attracted to people at all. Remember asexual people exist and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just part of the human sexuality spectrum. I see you ACEs.

Sexual orientation, as I have said, and I will say again is completely separate from someone’s gender identity.

Transgender  is a gender identity, not a sexual orientation, transgender people can be straight, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, all of the same things that anyone else can be.

For example, a trans man who is attracted solely to women is typically going to consider himself to be a straight man and a trans man who is attracted only to men would consider himself to be a gay man. 

Often another thing people will confuse is the terms, gender and sex. And they’ll use these terms interchangeably and this is also another common mistake.

Sex usually refers to biological aspects. Whereas gender is going to refer to attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that have given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is considered “compatible” -air quotes -with cultural expectations is referred to as gender normative and behavior that is viewed as incompatible with these expectations is considered gender nonconformity, according to the American psychological association.

See, I’m not making this stuff up, although, because this is what I do on this page- I take medical language and humanize it, let’s humanize that for a second.

In other words, gender is a social construct and it is a social identity. Someone’s gender is  by how they feel. An individual can feel more like a man, more like a woman. They can feel like both neither or something in between. 

Gender is not what’s in your pants. Gender is what’s in your head.

We have also been pretending. That gender is binary for a really long time and the truth is even sex isn’t binary.

Let let’s not forget that intersex people exist. That is the I and the LGBTQIA plus umbrella.

Some people will grow up and identify with the label that they are given at birth, and it is going to  be up to the individual to figure out their own gender identity and sexual orientation for themselves.

If you are one of the people who identifies with the assignment that you were given at birth, you are considered cis-gender.  That is because the prefix CIS means same.

If you do not identify with the gender that you were assigned at birth, you’re considered transgender. That does include non-binary people because, in most countries in the world,  at least that I have heard of, you cannot be assigned non- binary at birth.

And if there is a country like this, let me know  when that happens. I’d love to know as soon as that happens, because I’ve not heard of one.

Some people who are transgender are also going to experience gender dysphoria, which refers to psychological distress, that results from the incongruent between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity.

Though gender dysphoria often will begin in childhood, some people may not experience it until puberty or much later in life.

This is also according to the American Psychological Association. Now I want to make sure I mentioned that not all transgender people are going to experience gender dysphoria and on its own being transgender is not considered to be a medical condition.

Also people who have dysphoria sometimes may say that this can come and go throughout one’s life and be triggered by different things.

I personally had it go away for a number of years and then came back and meant that it was something I needed to pay attention to and address when it returned.

Nonbinary people, sometimes referred to as enbys, are people whose gender identity is not strictly that of man or woman.

Gender identities that fall outside of this male, female binary are not new. They are actually more recent Western concepts that had been exported to other nations through colonialism. Prior to this interference, we had Native cultures on all parts of the world who acknowledged more than two genders. Some, here in America, having up to six different genders. 

Unfortunately the assimilation erased non-binary gender identities from many parts of the world, especially here in America, where natives were forced into residential school schools or killed.

I feel a person like me would have been much more accepted by the tribes, people than the colonizers who came and took away the land.

That’s why it frustrates me. When people say “you can’t make up a new gender”.

Non-binary identities are not new. We have been here. We have always been here, despite the fact that people have tried very hard to erase us.

In fact, saying there are only two genders is a bit racist, if you really think about it.

Being anti LGBTQIA is not compatible with being pro Autistic because there are too many Autistic people who are also LGBTQIA plus. Just like being racist or bigoted in any other way is not compatible with being for Autistic People, because being Autistic is something that impacts each and every different type of human. It does not differentiate between race or gender or age or any other factor. Autistic people are vast and spread out amongst the human population in all of its varieties.

My Autistic identity impacts every aspect of who I am as a person and that is tied heavily into my gender identity. It has fundamentally shaped how I relate to gender and all of those other social constructs. Just another check box I don’t fit into.

As you may have noticed, NeuroDivergent people, Autistic People, especially don’t always fit in with social constructs very neatly, and often we’ll make our own way in things.

I was assigned female at birth, and that is just what it feels like. This assignment I have had no saying.

I remember first being distressed about this when I was four or five and I didn’t feel like a girl and didn’t want to grow up and be a woman.

I felt like a mistake and would often tell adults growing up that I wished I’d never been born and I’ve had to learn who I am and become my most authentic self.

That has been a journey.  I’m 34 now. So 30 years later, but success and joy, I was not able to find those things when I was living in authentically.

That’s why in June, we have pride month, to encourage LGBTQIA people to have pride in themselves, and be emboldened to live authentically, because living in closets, though, it is something many of us have to do at different times in our life for safety and other reasons, are oppressive soul crushing places that many of us long to escape.

Those of us who are out of the closet, like I am very, very much so out of the closet. Can’t put it back in the box now.

I use that, that privilege that I have, that safety, to be this open with my truth, because that is not something that every queer person has.

Okay, humans. Thank you so much for sticking around to the end of this video. I know that got serious really quickly. I’m so grateful if you are still here at this moment, listening to my voice, even though we did go down a little bit of a serious turn there.

I put out new videos each and every Wednesday, if you’re new. So please don’t forget to subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss a new video or an update.

Videos are provided with transcriptions and closed captioning at neurodivergentrebel dot com.

A special thank you to my Patrion subscribers, YouTube subscribers, and Facebook supporters who do a little bit of monetary support to help this blog continue to have those high quality resources and accessibility tools.

I am so grateful for your help in doing that and helping me to continue to put out great high quality content on a regular basis as a small, thank you. You viewers,  that do that little extra help, got this video probably at the end of April.

I’m shooting this on April 29th and it’ll be released at the beginning of June for pride month.

That’s just a really small thank you to say thanks for what you do to help me create this blog the way it is. I am so grateful. 

Whether you are  commenting or sharing videos or giving your video ideas or submitting your questions or interacting with each other, I am grateful that you are here and that you are in this bubble and are giving your time and energy and space here.

I am so grateful for each and every one of you.

Thank you for being here, supporting, and sharing and helping to get the message out.

I will talk to you all next Wednesday.  Have a good have a good week. In the meantime.

Bye humans.

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