In March 2019, British singer Sam Smith publically revealed for the first time that they "float[ed] somewhere in between" male and female. And the following September, they confirmed on Instagram that their pronouns were "they/them/their".
Smith, 27, is now opening up about the way in which people in their life have adapted to their coming out, admitting that it has been "very difficult".
"What’s hard is people changing their vocabulary; that’s very, very difficult,’ they told Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1. "It takes time. Everyone messes up. I’m going to be misgendered to the day I die. This is going to take a long, long time for people to not use gender in their vocabulary."
Last March, Smith told The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil in an episode of her I Weigh Instagram series that “I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between.”
Watch the candid interview below:“I've always been very free in terms of thinking about sexuality, so I’ve just tried to change that into my thoughts on gender as well," they said, adding: “Non-binary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender. You are a mixture of all different things. You are your own special creation.”
Learn more about the Florida mother who says she is raising a gender-neutral baby:“I’ve sometimes sat and questioned, do I want a sex change? It’s something I still think about: ‘Do I want to?’ I don’t think it is,” Smith told Jamil. “When I saw the word non-binary, genderqueer, and I read into it, and I heard these people speaking, I was like, ‘F**k, that is me.’”
In September 2019, the How Do You Sleep singer wrote the following in a heartfelt caption explaining their pronouns:
"Today is a good day so here goes. I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM after a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out. I’m so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision but I’ve been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think but f**k it! I understand there will be many mistakes and mis gendering but all I ask is you please please try. I hope you can see me like I see myself now. Thank you.
P.s. I am at no stage just yet to eloquently speak at length about what it means to be non binary but I can’t wait for the day that I am. So for now I just want to be VISIBLE and open. If you have questions and are wondering what this all means I’ll try my best to explain but I have also tagged below the human beings who are fighting the good fight everyday. These are activists and leaders of the non binary/trans community that have helped me and given me so much clarity and understanding. [sic]"