The Eye Color Spectrum

Being nonbinary is like having hazel eyes. Now, let me explain this further. When a baby is born, their eyes tend to be a lighter color than what their eyes will eventually develop to be for the rest of their life- because they have the least amount of melanin, because they are least aware of their identity. A child is told that they are born with green eyes, therefore they don’t bother to look closer. Maybe in a photo they catch a glimpse of their eyes being slightly more brownish rather than green, but green is what they were told is their eye color, so they don’t question it further. 

 

However, eventually we as humans will have a period in our life where we are trying to define who we are. What is our identity? What makes us, us? How do we fit into the world? What similarities do we share with others? What differences do we have with others? We begin to take a closer look at ourselves, both figuratively and physically. Now, this person who was told their entire life that their eyes are green, starts to see swirls of brown and little sparks of orange within their eyes. They begin to ask others if they see the same, but nobody does. Their parents still say that they are their beautiful green-eyed child. 

 

So once again, this child dismisses the fact. Sure, we have the ability to constantly look at ourselves in a mirror and are probably more worried about our true eye color than anybody else out there. Sure, it slightly hurts every time somebody says your eyes are green, because it feels as if they don’t look hard enough to see that it’s inaccurate. Sure, you never felt comfortable wearing purple clothing, even though that’s what everybody said to do because it made your eye color pop. But if your parents, family, friends, the people who have known you your entire life, don’t see this; if they just see you as this little green-eyed person, then surely you are in the wrong. I mean, if nobody else notices it, then maybe you’re just imagining it or making it up because you so desperately have this need to be different from others. 

 

Then somebody does find it different. Somebody who was also born with green eyes that later changed to a different color. Their eyes are now brown. They believe that your eyes most definitely are brown and not green. But you explain to them that maybe you think it’s a mixture of both. That’s impossible.  

 

Without the label of being able to call their eyes hazel, this child is only given two options that each only feel half true. They can either agree with what everybody has always told them is true, (which is that they have green eyes.) Or they can say that they’re like the other kid and their eyes have changed to brown. Neither are right, and they know that, but to say any different is to be asking too much from society.  

 

You want us to use a word that doesn’t even exist to describe you?  

You want us to refer to your eyes as hazel? That’s a shrub. Doing that would be grammatically incorrect! 

I miss my green-eyed baby. 

Why do you have to be selfish? 

This doesn’t exist. You don’t exist. You either choose one or the other. 

You just want the attention. 

This is just a phase, a trend so you feel different. 

Your eyes are green. 

We notice that your eyes aren’t green. They’re brown. But not both. Not something in between. 

Everything is black and white. 

Everything is binary. 

You are not valid. 

 

We accepted the term hazel into our vocabulary. We acknowledge people with hazel eyes exist and are valid. So why can’t we do the same for people who are nonbinary?