Wow, reading the excerpts from Alox Vaid Manon’s book Beyond the Gender Binary really put me in my place concerning the many learned behaviors we are systematically taught growing up about the binary gender (male and female) misconception. It is an unlearning experience that I feel I need to be completely open to if I am to truly believe I am accepting, supportive, and loving towards all of my earthly siblings. I felt alot of shame reading about all the injustice and discrimination that nonbinary (those that are neither exclusively male or female) and gender nonconforming (those that actively defy society’s portrayal of man and woman) people continue to endure and hold my own misinformation that I have allowed to guide my beliefs out of convenience accountable. I considered myself to be an accepting human being but truthfully, I feel disgusted in thinking about the power that I’ve chosen to believe in just because I fit the “accepted” normality when in fact so many humans experience daily scrutiny over their gender and the point is that it cannot be ignored! Gender non-conforming individuals need everyone’s support because we are not any better just because we fail to grasp that there are more than just two genders. We should all come together in this idea to support our gender nonconforming siblings so that society can really begin to move in a direction where all of our daily routines and lives are seen as equal and not just keep a certain category of people in power just because it is what has been done and taught for as long as anyone can remember.