Is it fair to date non-binary trans femmes without knowing how I identify?

“I’m just going to go ahead and say, ‘Yes!’” Kai advises. “Go forth, with some caveats.”

“I don’t know if it’s always possible to be firm in our identities before we start dating other people,” Kai Cheng Thom says. “If we notice that our attractions and our gender identities are falling outside of the box of prescribed heteronormativity, then I think it’s pretty fair to call oneself queer, to experiment with that label and then also to discard it if it’s not feeling right later on.”

It’s our latest in the video series Ask Kai: Quickies, offering advice on sex, dating and relationships for those of you in a hurry.

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performer, and social worker who divides her heart between Montreal and Toronto, unceded Indigenous territories. She is the author of the Lambda Award-nominated novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir (Metonymy Press), as well as the poetry collection a place called No Homeland (Arsenal Pulp Press). Her latest book, Falling Back in Love with Being Human, a collection of letters and poetry, is out now from Penguin Random House Canada.

Read More About:
Video, Video, Ask Kai: Quickies

Keep Reading

A self portrait and collage by revolutionary queer photographer Claude Cahun

The queer photographer who fought fascism

Claude Cahun’s gender-bending self portraits were ahead of their time—and nearly erased from art history
Actors Ian McKellen and James Laurenson in 'Edward II', which featured the first gay kiss on British television

The history of the first gay kiss on British TV

In 1970, Sir Ian McKellen and James Laurenson made history with a kiss in a filmed production of “Edward II”
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr in front of the FCC logo

FCC explores adding warning labels for trans content on TV

The U.S. government agency is taking comments on whether television ratings should be updated to signal “controversial gender identity issues”
On the left, Jason Collins on the cover of Sports Illustrated coming out as gay. On the right, a photo of Collins playing for the Brooklyn Nets.

Remembering Jason Collins, the gay NBA player who changed the game

The late trailblazer made history when he came out in 2013
Advertisement