Non-binary gender identities generally do not result from certain bodily characteristics, but from a person's own sense of gender, writes the Regenbogenportal of the German Ministry of Family Affairs in 2019. Arn Sauer, political scientist and staff member for gender mainstreaming at the German Federal Environmental Agency, explains in 2017 at the launch of his LGBTIQ lexicon of the Federal Agency for Civic Education: "Self-definitions and self-descriptions should always be acknowledged, they should not be questioned, but rather understood as another part of a differentiating, sexual and gender diversity. And thus as enrichment!"
The term non-binary was defined in 2015 by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) when it surveyed 28,000 transgender people in the United States:
"Non-binary: this term is used by some to describe individuals whose social gender is not exclusively male or female, including those who identify as asexual, or as a gender other than male or female, or as multisexual."
"Non-binary: This term is used by some to describe people whose gender is not exclusively male or female, including those who identify as no gender, as a gender other than male or female, or as more than one gender."
Under the designation gender-nonconforming people, the US Library of Congress has been recording gender-variant, genderqueer, non-binary people as identifiers since 2017 (see 2018 study). In the 2021 Gender Census global survey of 44,500 "gender diverse" people, 33% chose gender non-conforming as their self-designation (identity word). In contrast to this meaning, the Rainbow Portal explains the term "gender(non)conforming" as a deviation in behavior or appearance from socially dominant ideas about a particular gender (gender role).
In 2018, US social psychologists Bosson, Vandello, and Buckner define each term as follows (translated):
- transgender: persons whose psychological gender identity does not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth
- genderqueer: people who identify as neither/neither, or as both, or as a combination of male and female
- genderfluid: persons whose gender identity shifts or flexibly changes instead of remaining persistently the same
- bigender: persons who switch between the gender identities woman and man
- trigender: persons who change between woman, man and a third gender identity
- agender: people who perceive themselves as asexual
In addition, the terms pangender ("all-sex") and demigender ("half-sex") can be found, as well as the term abinary instead of non-binary (because a negation) as an alternative proposal in Germany.
transgender
Transgender is an umbrella term and also includes non-binary people; non-binary people can see themselves as transgender if they want to, or as "intersex". The trans* and inter* variants explicitly include non-binary and other gender identities through the gender asterisk. In the 2015 U.S. Census, 35% of about 28,000 respondents described themselves as non-binary/genderqueer, and 82% had no objection to being described as "transgender." In the 2021 Gender Census, 29% chose transgender as their self-description, 34% chose trans, and 13% chose trans* (with an asterisk); 68% chose nonbinary.
genderqueer
With the term genderqueer, non-binary people express that they are "queer to the genders" and do not want to be classified as a man or a woman. In 2021, 27% of 44,500 respondents identified themselves in this way.
genderfluid
Genderfluid individuals prefer to keep their gender identity persistently changeable ("fluid") rather than committing to one gender. In doing so, they may move between genders or express multiple genders simultaneously. In the 2015 U.S. survey, 20% described themselves as gender fluid / fluid; in the 2021 global Gender Census, 23% chose genderfluid / fluid gender, 7% genderflux, and 11% androgynous as their self-description.
bigender
People who identify with both genders male/female or combine elements of both, including in expression, define themselves as bigender ("ambisexual"). In the 2021 Gender Census, 4% chose this self-designation.
trending
Trigender ("three-gendered") goes even further and includes another gender variation or elements of it; the third can be a mixed form of male/female or completely outside of the two-genderedness, or also the (temporary) feeling of not belonging to any gender. In the 2020 Gender Census, only 0.1% entered trigender as a self-designation; one year later, the designation is no longer listed.
pangender
Pangender ("all-gendered") refers to people who feel they belong to all genders in some way, without being committed to one. In the Gender Census 2020, only 0.2 % entered this self-designation; in 2021, the designation is no longer listed.
agender
Persons who do not identify with any gender or do not (want to) have any gender identity at all define themselves as agender ("asexual/genderless"), gender-neutral, neuter or neutrois. Neutrois, however, can also be understood as a separate, neutral gender (as used, for example, by Lann Hornscheidt). The Gender Census 2021 identified 22% agender persons among the 44,500 "gender diverse"; around 14% chose neutral, 3% neutrois and around 16% genderless as their identity designation.
demigender
Demigender ("half-gendered") refers to individuals who identify partially or primarily with one gender, but simultaneously with another. This group includes subgroups, so a demifemale (demigirl) sees herself only partially as a woman (regardless of birth gender), while other parts of her identity belong to other genders or may be genderfluid or agender; conversely, a demimale (demiboy) does. In the 2021 Gender Census, there were about 6% demigender, 7% demiboy, and 9% demigirl.
abinary
The term abinary people is proposed by the study Gender Diversity in Employment and Occupation commissioned by the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency at the end of 2020: "Some identify with a binary gender as female or male, others as neither female nor male, as abinary or beyond the binary gender model. We use the term abinary to refer to people who do not identify as women* or men*, or not (only) female or male. The self-designation non-binary is also widespread, but in the formation of words it centres the deviation from a binary norm as a moment of absence or deficiency through the suffix 'non-', which is why we use the positive self-designation abinary. We use the phrase 'inter*, trans* and (other) abinary people' to make it knowable that inter* and trans* people can also be abinary, but not all abinary people have to be inter* or trans*." Already in 2018, the Queer Network of Lower Saxony had recommended the term in its handout Abinary Persons in Counselling (funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Equality).
Self-titles
In Germany, in 2015, the first accompanying materials to the Interministerial Working Group on Inter- & Transsexuality (IMAG) mentioned in two places "non-binary normative gender identities and physicalities" and "people who live beyond gender polarity as neither*noch*, (gender-)queer, non-gender/non-sexual and the like". At the end of 2017, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth published research results and findings from the IMAG and mentioned "non-binary", "non-binary living people" and "non-binary persons" in three places.
In 2015, an entry appeared in the Berliner Tagesspiegel's Queer Lexicon, which includes under transgender people "who do not want to see themselves as either a man or a woman ('non-binary', 'genderqueer')."
In 2016, journalist:in Hengameh Yaghoobifarah published a small glossary on LGBT terms on Zeit Online, including "Non-binary: Non-binary gender identities can be totally different. Agender (genderless), genderqueer, femme, demigirl, demiboy, the list goes on and on. However, they all have in common with each other that they refuse the (binary) dichotomy of man or woman." Two years later, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah added: "I am non-binary or in German: nicht-binär. That's an umbrella term for very many different genders [...] In Germany, the discourse hasn't reached that point yet, but it will."
In 2017, a glossary entry in Missy Magazine explained, "Non-binary is both a catch-all term and a term for a distinct identity. [...] Non-binary people can be trans or cis, inter or dyadic. They can be female, male, both, neither, many, more, femme, agender, neutrois, or something else entirely. [...] They can use different pronouns, new or old, multiple, alternating, or none. [...] Much like trans and queer, non-binary is a self-designation."
In 2020, the US student health organizations American College Health Association (ACHC) and National College Health Assessment (NCHA) conducted their annual online survey and received 50,300 completed questionnaires (14% response rate). In response to the question, "What gender were you assigned at birth?", 68.4% responded "female", 31.6% responded "male", and 19 individuals responded "intersex". The question, "Do you identify as transgender?" was answered in the affirmative by 1055 of the students (2.1%), including 1046 of the total 1844 non-binary people (56.8%). The third gender question from the extensive list of questions was, "What label do you use to describe your gender identity?"
| Designation | Number | % | Non-binary | % |
| Woman / female | 33.113 | 66,3 % | 284 | 15,4 % |
| trans woman | 47 | 0,1 % | 47 | 2,5 % |
| Man / Male | 15.517 | 31,1 % | 230 | 12,5 % |
| trans man | 114 | 0,2 % | 113 | 6,1 % |
| non-binary | 588 | 1,2 % | 584 | 31,7 % |
| genderqueer | 157 | 0,3 % | 155 | 8,4 % |
| genderfluid | 155 | 0,3 % | 154 | 8,4 % |
| agender | 79 | 0,2 % | 79 | 4,3 % |
| intersex | 7 | 0,0 % | 6 | 0,3 % |
| Identity not listed | 195 | 0,4 % | 192 | 10,4 % |
| Student respondents: | 49.972 | 100 % | 1.844 (3,7 %) | 100 % |
In early 2021, initiator Cassian Lodge's (from Wales) annual Gender Census evaluated some 44,500 online questionnaires from "gender diverse" people worldwide; only 12% of respondents were over 30 years old. One of the three questions was about identity (translated): "Which of the following English terms describe how you think about yourself?" From 33 specifications, here are the top 10:
| Designation | 2021 | < 31 | > 30 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
| nonbinary | 68,2 % | 69 % | 63 % | 66,4 % | 66,6 % | 60,6 % | 65,8 % | 64,6 % | 63,7 % |
| queer (partly or completely) | 48,0 % | 48 % | 50 % | 42,9 % | 43,0 % | 2,9 % | 0,3 % | |
| enby | 37,0 % | 38 % | 29 % | 31,5 % | 31,7 % | 24,5 % | 19,4 % | 15,6 % | |
| trans | 33,5 % | 34 % | 29 % | 33,7 % | 36,6 % | 34,8 % | 30,1 % | 34,8 % | 31,1 % |
| gender non-conforming | 32,9 % | 34 % | 28 % | 29,0 % | 26,2 % | 1,1 % | |
| transgender | 29,2 % | 30 % | 24 % | 29,0 % | 30,4 % | 27,9 % | 23,9 % | 30,9 % | 26,5 % |
| genderqueer | 27,1 % | 26 % | 34 % | 25,9 % | 28,9 % | 30,8 % | 34,3 % | 40,7 % | 41,2 % |
| genderfluid / fluid gender | 22,6 % | 22 % | 24 % | 21,4 % | 21,0 % | 24,6 % | 27,9 % | 30,8 % | 31,2 % |
| agender | 22,3 % | 22 % | 24 % | 21,9 % | 23,5 % | 26,1 % | 33,1 % | 30,9 % | 31,4 % |
| transmasculine | 21,3 % | … | … | 19,3 % | 19,5 % | 18,8 % | 15,8 % | 14,2 % | |
| Gender Diverse Respondents: | 44.583 | 88 % (age) 12 % | 24.576 | 11.242 | 11.278 | 9.934 | 3.055 | 2.901 |
| As pronoun they (see below): | 79,2 % | 80 % | 75 % | 77,5 % | 79,5 % | 77,4 % | 80,5 % | 77,5 % | 74,4 % |
20% of all respondents chose the option "questioning or don't know", 11% chose "woman" and 10% "girl", 11% chose "boy" and 9% "man".
In 2018, the Gender Census had also asked about the preferred spelling: nonbinary vs. non-binary - 45% of all respondents were in favor of the single spelling and only 28% were in favor of the hyphenated spelling; nonbinaries voted 49% to 25%.
The US dictionary Merriam-Webster's Dictionary lists the term spelled together:
"non-binary (adjective) C): referring to a person or that person itself identifying with or expressing a gender that is neither wholly masculine nor wholly feminine"
"nonbinary (adjective) c): relating to or being a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that is neither entirely male nor entirely female"
Among other gender terms, Webster's lists genderqueer as well as gender-fluid. The British Oxford English Dictionary also explains the terms with similar wording as gender identities.
