“We need graphic novels like Theo’s to be published to remind us that sometimes, the process of just finding and being yourself is enough”
BY ANNA THOMPSON
Theo Parish’s Homebody is a heartwarming and loving graphic novel reflecting on Theo’s own non-binary identity, giving space for all of us to connect with the idea of what it means to be at home within ourselves.
I have been a volunteer with Just Like Us, the LGBTQIA young people’s charity, since last year. My motivation for volunteering to speak to young people in schools stemmed from a similar motivation to Theo’s: sharing my experience as a non-binary person with LGBTQIA people and allies alike. So many elements of their story resonate with me, and had I read a story like this when I was a young non-binary person, I think it would’ve given me a lot of comfort and hope for who I might grow into in the future.
The graphic novel begins with a meditative walk through a forest to find a home: to find ourselves. This metaphor continues throughout the entire memoir, and it really brings about this beautiful analogy for transgender identity.
Transitioning is exploration, not a destination, and it’s something that all people deserve to have the ability to do, to feel the gender euphoria of being at home in ourselves. I really look forward to seeing this concept embraced both within and outside of the LGBTQIA community itself. We need less of a fixed and rigid emphasis on the “proper” ways to transition, the “correct” path and final destination, and more acceptance of people exploring and understanding themselves with greater depth and care.
From there, so many of the moments of my own experience growing up non-binary come to life in Homebody. The feeling of getting to just be myself in some places, and the assumptions about my gender and sexuality placed on me in others. I, too, discovered myself through performance and creativity in my own storytelling and theatre performances. Haircuts short but always feminine, outfits exciting but resulting in gendered assumptions, names something given but maybe not ours. Seeing all of these experiences described in someone else’s words and drawn in someone else’s style gave me an amazing feeling of connection and comfort.
What’s especially beautiful about Homebody as a trans narrative is how it balances gender dysphoria with gender euphoria, as well as coming out to others with coming out to ourselves. Being trans is finding ourselves through these different moments of comfort and discomfort, of sometimes hiding who we are and sometimes sharing. And Theo invites us to see it all in their story, with gorgeous illustrations of other trans and LGBTQIA people as well.
When I speak in schools as a Just Like Us ambassador, I always end my talk with the same sentiment: that what helps me feel comfortable to come out to others as a non-binary person is seeing others being authentically themselves. This book is that. This book gives readers that, and, in its calm and abstract galaxies and nature stylings, encourages us to find and create that home for ourselves.
Non-binary people will always exist and we need graphic novels like Theo’s to be published to remind us that sometimes, the process of just finding and being yourself is enough. In Theo’s words: “Whoever you are and whatever you do, someone is seeing you… and realizing… there is a place for me in this world.”
Anna volunteers as an ambassador for Just Like Us, the LGBT+ young people’s charity. LGBT+ and aged 18 to 25? Sign up here!
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