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Janelle Monáe comes out as nonbinary with Twitter hashtag

Monáe joined the #IAmNonbinary trend on Twitter.

 

Samira Sadeque

IRL

Posted on Jan 11, 2020   Updated on May 19, 2021, 6:05 pm CDT

Janelle Monáe just came out as gender nonbinary through a tweet. 

The hashtag #IAmNonBinary has been flooding Twitter over the weekend, with many sharing their personal experiences of being gender nonbinary. 

The actor and singer, who opened up about her sexuality in 2018 and identifies as queer and a “free-ass-motherfucker,” quote-tweeted one of the trend’s tweets on Friday.

“There is absolutely nothing better than living outside the gender binary. #IAmNonbinary,” Twitter user @camrynieroway wrote, along with a GIF of a cartoon.

The cartoon says, “‘Are you a boy or a girl?’ I’m an experience.”

Monáe quote-tweeted it and simply said, “#IAmNonBinary.” 

https://twitter.com/JanelleMonae/status/1215782996965355521?s=20

Fans flooded Monáe’s tweet with support. 

“Beautiful to see people with big&young audiences voicing things like this so these confused, scared, unsure adolescents, children, and even adults can have role models to look up to!!” Twitter user @pro_paige_ wrote.

Twitter user @koenthegaysian, who describes themselves as a “Janelle Monáe stan,” opened up about why Monáe coming out as nonbinary is so important to them. 

“As someone who has been a die hard fan of yours since freshman year of high school, and someone who came out as non-binary senior year, this is such an amazing thing to see. My biggest idol and role model also coming out as NB is amazing and makes me feel seen,” they wrote.

Another wrote that Monáe was an inspiration to “Black, queer people.”

https://twitter.com/maddoxkenji_17/status/1215863811632238592?s=20

https://twitter.com/jaythefae/status/1215819527679856640?s=20

“You will help lift up many with this declaration. Your truth will empower, encourage, and send strength to many feeling vulnerable and unseen,” writer Aaron Vallely tweeted. 

 

While there was some confusion over Monáe’s preferred pronouns, it’s important to note that she has not announced them yet, and many nonbinary people use “she/her” and “he/him” pronouns. Others use multiple pronouns or pronouns other than “she/her,” “they/their,” and “he/him.”

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H/T BuzzFeed

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*First Published: Jan 11, 2020, 6:28 pm CST