I'm 67 years old, autistic, and non-binary. I have the typical female "plumbing," and a biological daughter whom I breastfed till she started preschool. I also have a bit of a mustache and beard, a muscular build, and sing alto. Sometimes people call me "Sir," and that makes my day!

When the subject of gender comes up, I isay I'm non-binary because I've always been this way and that word suits me. Not because I'm caught up in a fad or trying to trigger the conservatives.

I'm not seeking special privileges or protections because I'm non-binary. However, I would appreciate it if the world were more autism-friendly, and if people with plumbing like mine weren't treated as second-class citizens.

A while back, I heard of the Indigenous American term "Two-Spirit." I used it for a while because that's exactly how I feel—man and woman, both, me. Then I found out that you're not supposed to use that term unless you're an Indigenous American. Well, I got some blood, but I'm not a member of any Indigenous nation, so I had to quit calling myself that. Thus, when asked (which happens more often than you'd think), I settle for "non-binary."

Every now and then, someone suggests to me that I ought to have a mastectomy and take T. They say I would be happier that way, and maybe I would. But I know why I'm in this body, so I grin and bear it. Like everything, It's temporary.

Words have meanings, and words are often coined or discarded to fit current ideas of meaning. When there are no words for how people can be, such people can be ignored, marginalized, or erased. I don't want to be erased. Nobody does. So I use the word "non-binary" because I can't call myself Two-Spirit. Non-binary is the next best thing.