Despite encountering difficulties being an out, non-binary teen, Blaine is proud to be a non-binary trans person, and enjoys shaping how they express themselves.
“One of my favorite things is empowering other people in the community and validating them. Letting them know that ‘trans and non-binary’ doesn’t have to look just one way.”
Blaine feels that being confident in their own identity, as someone assigned female at birth and expresses themselves in a masculine, feminine, and androgynous fashion, can be a tool to validate others in the community.
Through Marrow PDX, Blaine participates in the youth drag collective Dang Heckin’ Nerdy Drag. “It’s all about geeky performances and empowering youth performers, since there’s really not a lot of space for youth in drag,” they say.
Their drag name is discworldwitch. “It allows for me to draw from all my favorite places for drag,” says Blaine. “Spooky stuff, fantasy stuff, stuff that’s a little bit weird.”
Like their gender identity, their drag persona is also non-binary. “Instead of a drag king or queen, I brand myself as a drag creature,” says Blaine.
On July 27, they performed in the collective’s one-year anniversary show as a character from Steven Universe.
As an artist, Blaine is influenced by their identity and queerness. “Art,” they say, “is a safe place to communicate everything about myself that’s hard or scary to communicate other places.”
Blaine enjoys painting, comics, and zine-making, and posts about their artwork on their Instagram art page, @ecthelma.
One of Blaine’s zines was created through the lens of their own trans experience. The zine is “about trying to be there for somebody who’s trans, who wasn’t accepted,” communicated through drawings of their crocheted duck, named Deke. They also recently released a lavender zine, reflecting on “the history of uses of lavender, its proven medicinal effects…along with a couple recipes.”
Blaine also uses their personal style as an outlet for self-expression. They occasionally wear a chest binder, which inspires feelings of gender euphoria, a term considered to be the opposite of gender dysphoria, referring to the comfort and satisfaction one experiences with their gender identity.
“With [the binder], I can wear anything and just feel happy and confident,” says Blaine. They describe their style as “kind of goth, kind of punk,” a style that makes them feel most confident and euphoric.
To non-binary teens struggling with their identity, Blaine stresses that there is no one way to be non-binary.
“You can be non-binary in the closet, you can be non-binary out and proud, you can be non-binary while fat, while Black, while Asian, while disabled…If you are non-binary, you are non-binary, you are valid, and I am proud of you.”
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