International Non-Binary People’s Day

International Non-Binary People’s Day is observed each year on 14 July and is aimed at raising awareness and organising around the issues faced by non-binary people around the world.^[1][2][3] The day was first celebrated in 2012.^[4] The date was chosen for being precisely between International Men’s Day and International Women’s Day.^[5][6]

Most countries in the world do not recognize non-binary as a legal gender, meaning most non-binary people still have a gendered passport and official identification.^[5] Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand include non-binary gender options on passports, and 23 US states plus Washington DC ^[7] allow residents to mark their gender as ‘X’ on their driving licence.^[8]

Non-Binary Awareness Week is the week starting on the Sunday^[9] or Monday^[10] preceding International Non-Binary People’s Day on 14 July. This is a LGBTQ+ awareness period dedicated to those who do not fit within the traditional gender binary,^[11] i.e. those who do not exclusively identify as a man or a woman, or who may identify as both a man and a woman, or may fall outside of these categories altogether.^[12]