How do non-binary people live in Iraq?

Non-binary people suffer from constant persecution in Iraq, where society does not know their gender identity at all, and they see them only as people "similar to women" or "tomboys", as Iraqi society calls them, and because of this, many non-binary individuals are trying to hide their identity and gender stereotypes of men and women, especially with the recent law.

But even before the law, the situation was not good for non-binary individuals, many of them were killed, kidnapped, tortured and raped by militias in Iraq, which sees them only as homosexuals, even if these people are attracted to the opposite sex, says Alex, who is not a binary born as a male using pronouns (he/she/they): 

"It is very difficult to live in a society that puts for everything a certain template and a certain image of everything that dehumanizes itself in dealing with people, usually dealing with me in a sexual way, most often male, or in a demeaning way, because I am not like girls and I am not like young men in my form and manner of expression, this marginalization extends from ' it's a shame to see LGBT people doing the same thing to non-binary people'.

A lot of people are unaware, even from members of the LGBT community, that biological sex has nothing to do with gender, and the Arabic expression is a purely hard language in its rules in the pronouns of the speaker and the one that you speak to him , I usually ask those close to me to use the plural or feminine beside using my name (Alex)."

The difficulty also extends even to getting clothes or things that enable Alex to express herself in what she says: "I find it very difficult to find clothes or items that describe my personality as non-binary or that help me express my queer identity."

And the sexual harassment and harassment that Alex faces does not end because of her appearance and non-standard identity, she also says: "A close friend of mine at the University told me that those who were with me at the stage describe me as working in prostitution because of my appearance, too, I was harassed by people from other stages or trying to look at me in an understated or stupid way by colleagues or those I met."

Alex explained to us a small part of her daily suffering, which gives a picture of what non-binary individuals are exposed to inside Iraq, and we hope that the situation will become better for them and that they can live with all love and peace