- Beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, better known as NikkieTutorials, came out as transgender for the first time to her millions of followers on her channel on Tuesday.
- Being transgender refers to when a person does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth based on their genitals and hormone levels. Transgender people can fall within a binary gender, like man or woman, or identify as nonbinary — neither male or female.
- A number of other prominent YouTubers have come out as transgender on their channels over the years, advocating for transgender rights and standing up for LGBTQ youth.
- Here are five YouTubers who have come out as transgender and nonbinary during their YouTube careers.
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A number of prominent YouTubers have come out as transgender on their channels over the years, advocating for transgender rights and standing up for LGBTQ youth.
Being transgender refers to when a person does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth based on their genitals and hormone levels. Transgender people can fall within a binary gender, like man or woman, or identify as nonbinary — neither male nor female.
Coming out can be difficult for any transgender person, as transgender people face disproportionate rates of youth homelessness, mental health issues, and violence. But more people are identifying as openly transgender and non-binary than ever before.
Here are five YouTubers who have come out as transgender and nonbinary during their YouTube careers.
Nikkie de Jager, better known as NikkieTutorials, came out as transgender on her channel after she said she received blackmail threats from people threatening to out her.
Nikkie de Jager, better known as NikkieTutorials to her followers, announced she is a transgender woman for the first time to her 12 million YouTube subscribers on Tuesday.
De Jager, a Dutch YouTuber, told her subscribers that after receiving blackmail threats she made the decision to "start the year off with the truth." Throughout the video, de Jager shared her transition story, saying she fully transitioned by the time she was 19 years old.
The beauty influencer — known for her "power of makeup" tutorials — said that her mother was her biggest support overall during her transition and was overwhelmingly positive when de Jager was coming out.
De Jager emphasized that she wants her followers to not solely focus on her gender identity and to continue to see her as a whole person.
"Yes I am transgender, but at the end of the day I am me and at the end of the day, you are you," de Jager said.
Nikita Dragun began her YouTube channel in 2013 and came out publicly as a transgender woman in 2015.
Nikita Dragun is a notable beauty influencer, known for her dramatic makeup looks and intense fashion. The YouTuber came out as transgender in December 2015 in a video on her channel.
Since then, Dragun has continued to advocate for LGBTQ youth and collected a following of 2.6 million subscribers.
Beauty influencer Gigi Gorgeous came out as transgender in 2013 and gained popularity by documenting her transition on her YouTube channel.
Gigi Gorgeous has amassed a following of 2.9 million since starting her makeup channel in 2008. Gorgeous came out as transgender in 2013, later documenting her transition for the world to see.
Because Gorgeous advocated for transgender representation and equity, she gained a huge following over the years, collaborating with notable celebrities like Miley Cyrus.
Ari Fitz created videos on queerness and blackness on their channel for years before coming out as nonbinary on Twitter in 2018.
Model and YouTuber Ari Fitz joined YouTube in 2013, focusing on fashion, queer culture, and blackness.
While Fitz had always identified as androgynous on their channel, they didn't come out as nonbinary until 2019, when they posted a selfie on Twitter with the caption "btw, I'm non binary."
Nonbinary, or identifying as a gender outside of the traditional categories of male and female, isn't the same as transgender, or identifying as a different gender than sex assigned at birth. Still, it's possible to be a transgender person who identifies as nonbinary.
Fitz is among a growing number of people identifying as nonbinary. A recent Pew Research survey found that one-third of teens and people in their early 20s know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns, the set of pronouns that many nonbinary people use as opposed to "he" or "she."
Queer content creator Miles McKenna produced his "Hella Gay" series for his young following before coming out as transgender in 2017.
Miles McKenna began producing videos for his YouTube channel MilesChronicles in 2012, focusing primarily on LGBTQ culture and comedy. McKenna announced he was transgender in 2014 to his followers and publicly documented his transition, though he has since made his initial coming-out video private.
Since then, McKenna's channel has amassed 1.2 million subscribers. He continues to advocate for LGBTQ equity and transgender visibility in his work on and off YouTube.
The YouTuber spoke out after being deadnamed, or called the name he was given at birth, by a panel moderator at VidCon in 2019.
- Read more:
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