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Is Hunter Schafer against non-binary people?
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Sep 07, 2022
Late last month, Hunter Schafer received backlash from her fans and the LGBTQ+ community after people noticed she liked a post from Instagram user @piggytaiwan that some people found offensive — going as far as commenting on the post with five exclamation points.
The now-deleted post consisted of a long message that many felt blamed the non-binary community for conservative legislation that deems hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery not medically necessary in Florida.
Naturally, as a trans woman herself, Schafer’s fans were shocked that she would like something so offensive against another group in the LGBT+ community.
Now, weeks later, Schafer has gone on Instagram to defend herself from the backlash and to clarify her stance and why she liked the post.
Hunter Schafer clarified that she “holds absolutely no hatred towards non-binary folks” in an Instagram comment.
In a post on Instagram meant to celebrate the end of the summer, Schafer dons a pink t-shirt that reads “Nobody knows I’m a transsexual.”
As this was her first post on Instagram since July 10, 2022, she also decided that she would take this time to clear up some misunderstandings from the drama that occurred a little over two weeks ago.
She writes in the comments, “also, while we are here- i hold absolutely no hatred towards non-binary folks.”
Many of her fans jumped to the conclusion that because of the accusatory nature of the post she had liked previously, she held some sort of contempt or hatred toward non-binary groups.
She continued, explaining that “I agreed with another [trans girl’s] post in which she pointed out an in-balance in the visibility and space-taken up between non-binary folks and binary trans women (particularly those of color and/or those who have resulted to sex work as a means of survival) that I think deserves attention/ re-evaluation (as far as resources and platforms go) within the LGBTQ+ community.”
Essentially, Schafer appears to argue that in an attempt to give visibility to non-binary people, some needs in the trans community are being neglected.
Because of a push to change the definition of what it means to be “trans,” those trans people who have transitioned or want to transition are being negatively impacted.
Schafer clarifies her stance by saying “I am not a trans medicalist, and my ideology around transness does not align with transmedicalism, nor a disdain towards nb identifying people.”
Transmedicalism, as defined by Wikipedia, is “the idea that being transgender or transsexual is contingent upon experiencing gender dysphoria or requiring medical treatment to transition.”
Schafer’s explanation left her fans divided.
One fan wrote, “there are literally no statistics to back up this supposed imbalance, non-binary people deserve to take up space. this is a gross misdirection of scrutiny.”
“I love how you still can’t realize that you are targeting non-binary people and vilifying them for something that is not their fault at all,” wrote another.
Fans have tried to get Schafer to see that the post she was advocating for is transmedicalist and anti-non-binary, making it look like she subscribes to that belief, but she claims that she isn’t.
Despite that, a lot of people aren’t buying it and fight amongst themselves in her comments.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Since graduating from Rutgers University, he spends most of his free time gaming or playing Quadball. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.