Shakina Nayfack has opened up about being non binary in her latest social media post.

Nayfack made history last year when she became the first trans person to have a lead role on an American network comedy, appearing as Ellis in NBC’s Connecting.

The star – who also plays Lola on Difficult People – still goes by the pronouns she/ her and reveals she felt defensive about the non binary label, until recently.

 “I always felt “non-binary” was implicit in my identity. I’ve personally understood the prefix “trans” to mean “beyond” more than “from one to another,” as in TRANScending gender”, the star said in the Instagram  post.

“I’ve claimed the term “gender non-conforming” from the outset of my journey, more than 20 years ago—before non-binary was common language. For a long time I felt defensive about the non-binary label, because in my mind, choosing to identify with that terminology meant I was stating that the inverse was also true, that a binary exists and I’m just setting myself apart from it”.

Nayfack continues: “The refusal of a gender binary and proving any assumptions of it false, porous, malleable, have always been core to my beliefs and my practice of gender as a social construction within which we are fighting for agency to dismantle oppression and determine our selves”.

“I’m not “coming out” as non-binary, I’m choosing now to claim non-binary as part of my identity because, as a gender non-conforming trans woman, I feel responsible to include myself in the discourse which—unintentionally or not—has a tendency to assign meaning to my identity without my consent otherwise. My pronouns are still she/her, but they works too if that’s what the discourse requires. Peace be with you”.

See the full social media post below!