Walking Between Worlds: Border Identity Stress & Resilience Among LGBTQ+ Populations Who Defy Dichotomies

Many global cultures rely on strict binary definitions of identity to categorize their population into distinct, dichotomized groups (e.g., gay vs. straight, man vs. woman, Black vs. White). However, these blunt binary categories do not reflect human diversity. Many social groups—including many sexual and gender minorities—identify in ways that do not fit into such rigid categories. For example, people identifying with a bi+ identity (e.g., bisexual, pansexual, sexually fluid) or a gender nonbinary identity (e.g., enby, genderqueer, Two Spirit) defy, blur, or transgress conventional binary classification.