International Non-Binary Day has a pretty charming and intentional origin – it wasn’t born in protest, but in recognition and celebration.

📅 When?

It’s held every year on 14 July, neatly placed between International Men’s Day (19 Nov) and International Women’s Day (8 March) – a very on-the-nose symbol of being between, beyond, or outside the binary.

🌍 Who started it?

It was first celebrated in 2012, after being proposed by activists in Australia, including Katje van Loon, a non-binary writer and advocate. The aim was to raise visibility and awareness of non-binary people globally – those who don’t fit neatly into “male” or “female” boxes.

The choice of the date was deliberate:

“It was picked because it’s exactly halfway between International Women’s Day and International Men’s Day – a symbolic positioning of non-binary people as existing both between and outside those binaries.”

🎯 What’s it for?

• Visibility – to highlight the existence and experiences of non-binary people in a world that often erases them.
• Validation – to affirm that non-binary identities are real, diverse, and worthy of recognition.
• Celebration – to share joy, resilience, art, and community.
• Education – to push back against misinformation and create space for others to understand.

Some people and organisations also use this day to honour non-binary history, advocate for legal recognition, or uplift intersectional voices – Black, Indigenous, disabled, working-class, etc.

💕 Why this matters to me

My own journey toward understanding myself as non-binary will be familiar to many others in the eunuch and nullo community.

Some of us know we don’t fit into the gender binary long before surgery. Others – like me – come to that realisation only afterward, once the fog of genital dysphoria lifts and we’re able to see ourselves more clearly. It turns out that some of the most powerful affirmations don’t come from identity clinics or philosophy books, but from the strange peace of finally being in your own skin.

Mainstream medicine doesn’t understand us. In the UK, it’s nearly impossible to access nullification surgery unless it’s framed as part of a “standard” male-to-female transition. “Male to eunuch?” The system doesn’t know what to do with that – and it certainly doesn’t celebrate it.

So days like this matter. They remind me that non-binary people aren’t just real – we’re many, we’re varied, and we include identities most of the world still doesn’t know exist. We deserve space, recognition, and joy too.