Beyond the Binary Sumner McRae

What are family dynamics like for trans and nonbinary folks with kids? How does this shape our relationships with our families of origin? How do we create and nurture our own new families? Why are the bonds we have with our chosen kin so strong? This week, we talk with new guest Dylan Flunker, and again with returning guests Jess Venable-Novak, Meghan Myron-Karels, and Ash Dasuqi. 



Visit us: beyondthebinarypodcast.com 



Follow us on Instagram: @beyondthebinary_podcast 



Episode resources:

The Guardian: “The new American family: Trans, gender queer, nonbinary, two-spirit.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2019/jun/20/american-family-trans-gender-queer-nonbinary 

Frontiers in Psychology: “Division of Labor Among Transgender and Gender Non-binary Parents: Association With Individual, Couple, and Children’s Behavioral Outcomes.” https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00015/full 

Them: “Between the Binary: On the Gratitude I Feel to My Chosen Family.” https://www.them.us/story/gratitude-for-chosen-family-during-coronavirus 

NBC News: “How the Black queer community is re-imagining the family tree.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-queer-community-re-imagining-family-tree-rcna16134

Rainbow Families Trans and Gender Diverse Parents Guide: https://www.transhealthsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rainbow_Families_TGD_Parents-Guide.pdf 



Other Podcasts:

The Queer Family Podcast: https://www.thequeerfamilypodcast.com/ 

Gender Reveal Podcast: Transgender Parenting “Starter Pack”: https://www.genderpodcast.com/starterpacks



Books:

Blood, Marriage, Wine, and Glitter (S. Bear Bergman)



For the kids:

Neither (Airlie Anderson)

Jamie and Bubbie (Afsaneh Moradian)

My Maddy (Gayle E. Pittman)

This week we need you! New episodes will be back next week to wrap up our series on nonbinary parenthood. In the meantime, we need your help to keep growing our podcast community! We're starting to brainstorm ideas for future seasons of Beyond the Binary. If you have ideas of things you'd love to hear us cover, drop us a comment or message on Instagram, or use the contact form on our website. Don't forget to follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and leave us a review!

Episode 4: Family will be out next week, so stay tuned! 

Visit us at: beyondthebinarypodcast.com 

Find us on instagram: @beyondthebinary_podcast

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beyondthebinary

So, what happens for nonbinary parents once their kids are here and fully realized? How do we navigate things like school, sports, activities, and you know, other parents? And how do we navigate gender identity journeys that may still be in progress, or fluid over the course of our lives as parents? We talk about queer and nonbinary parent visibility while getting involved in our kids’ lives, raising gender creative kids, anti-trans legislation looming in places like Florida and elsewhere, and doing the proactive work to make sure our families are seen and respected. This week we talk with guests Jess Venable-Novak, and again with Meghan Myron-Karels and Ash Dasuqi.

Podcast website: beyondthebinarypodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram: @beyondthebinary_podcast

Episode resources:

The Establishment: “How Queer and Trans Parents are Raising Revolutionary Children During the Trump Era.”

https://theestablishment.co/how-queer-and-trans-parents-are-raising-revolutionary-children-during-the-trump-era-ef47de371fa2/index.html

Xtra Magazine: “I’m a non-binary parent. There still isn’t space for me.” (andrea bennett): https://xtramagazine.com/love-sex/im-a-non-binary-parent-there-still-isnt-s pace-for-me-154990

LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal: “Parenting Beyond the Binary? An Empirical Test of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory and the Stigmatization of Nonbinary Parents.” (Meredith G. F. Worthen and Chancey Herbolsheimer): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/27703371.2022.2123422?journalCode=wgfs21

Washington Post (March 5, 2023): “Florida bills would ban gender studies, trangender pronouns, tenure perks.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/03/05/florida-bills-would-ban-gender-studies-transgender-pronouns-tenure-perks/

Rainbow Families Trans and Gender Diverse Parents Guide: https://www.transhealthsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rainbow_Families_TGD_Parents-Guide.pdf

Other Podcasts:

Gender Reveal Podcast: Transgender Parenting “Starter Pack”: https://www.genderpodcast.com/starterpacks

Books:

Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting (Kyl Myers)

Like a Boy But Not a Boy: Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood Outside the Gender Binary (by andrea bennett)

For the kids:

What are Your Words? (Katherine Locke)

Jamie is Jamie (Afsaneh Moradian)

Julian is a Mermaid (Jessica Love)

How does the gender binary show up around pregnancy and birth? How do trans and gender-nonconforming people navigate all that? How does race intersect with these experiences? And are things starting to change at all? Are our ideas about birth and gender becoming more expansive and more inclusive? And if they’re not, how can we make it better?

Visit us at: beyondthebinarypodcast.com 

Episode resources:

Doula4All (Nadine Ashby): https://www.doula4all.com/

Birth Revolution: https://thebirthrevolution.org/

Embodied Birth (Ash Dasuqi): https://www.embodiedbirthclass.com/

“A Mother, But Not a Woman”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/08/16/non-binary-pregnant-navigating-most-gendered-role-all-motherhood/

“Black birthing persons matter - all of them” (Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review): https://info.primarycare.hms.harvard.edu/review/black-birthing-persons-matter

“For many pregnant trans people, competent medical care is hard to find”: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/for-many-pregnant-trans-people-competent-medical-care-is-hard-to-find

Rainbow Families Trans and Gender Diverse Parents Guide: https://www.transhealthsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rainbow_Families_TGD_Parents-Guide.pdf

Other podcasts:

Masculine Birth Ritual: https://www.masculinebirthritual.com/home

Evidence Based Birth (Episode 182: Black-led Queer and Trans Birth Work): https://evidencebasedbirth.com/black-led-queer-and-trans-birth-work-with-mystique-hargrove-kortney-lapeyrolerie-and-nadine-ashby/

Books:

The Natural Mother of the Child: A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood (by Krys Malcolm Belc)

For the kids:

What Makes a Baby (author)

What does the super-gendered landscape of parenthood look like for non-binary parents? Our culture is largely organized around the idea that parents are either Moms or Dads. But not everyone feels like a mom or a dad, so then what? How do we conceive of ourselves?

Beyond the Binary website: www.beyondthebinarypodcast.com

Follow on Instagram @beyondthebinary_podcast

Resources:

National Center for Transgender Equality: https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive

NPR: A Guide to Gender Identity Terms: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/996319297/gender-identity-pronouns-expression-guide-lgbtq

Beyond Kings and Queens: Gender and Politics in the 2019 Black Census: https://blackcensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Beyond-Kings-and-Queens-Gender-and-Politics.pdf

Rainbow Families Trans and Gender Diverse Parents Guide: https://www.transhealthsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Rainbow_Families_TGD_Parents-Guide.pdf

Xtra Magazine: “I’m a non-binary parent. There still isn’t space for me.” (andrea bennett): https://xtramagazine.com/love-sex/im-a-non-binary-parent-there-still-isnt-space-for-me-154990

Other podcasts:

“NB” My non-binary life” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06y51dp/episodes/downloads

“Gender Reveal” https://www.genderpodcast.com/

Books:

Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity (edited by Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane)

Like a Boy But Not a Boy: Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood Outside the Gender Binary (by andrea bennett)

For the kids:

Neither (by Airlie Anderson)

Beyond the Binary is a podcast centered on queer, nonbinary, transgender, and gender non-conforming folks navigating spaces where binary gender is deeply entrenched and enforced. We’ll tackle each broader theme in a short series of episodes. Our very first five-episode arc will look at the experiences of trans and nonbinary parents from birth to family life to community. Join us as we talk to non-binary parents about the unique challenges we face, the unique joys we experience and the ways we all come up against the gender binary at nearly every turn once we become parents.

Follow us on Instagram @beyondthebinary_podcast or visit us at beyondthebinarypodcast.com. 

You can also support the podcast at our Patreon page: patreon.com/beyondthebinary.