Kayleigh Walsh, a Mitchelstown local, is a 24 year old who identifies as non-binary. Non-binary is someone who doesn’t identify as a man or a woman – the ‘non’ is important here.
Culturally, countries like Ireland are used to defining genders into one of two groups, either a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’. Kayleigh, identifying as neither, uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ (rather than ‘she’ or ‘he’).
Gender identity is different to who you are attracted to. Gender identify refers to what you feel you are (for example, you identify as a woman, or a man). Sexual identity is who you are attracted to (you may be straight, or gay, and so on).
Kayleigh was assigned female at birth. While Kayleigh has the biological body of a female, their gender is not female. They do not identify as a woman.
It was Christmas 2019, at aged 22, that Kayleigh …
Full story in this week’s Print & Digital Edition
