In the United States, there has been a long going debate about what rights transgender, gay, or gender fluid people should have. Unfortunately, there is a ton of ignorance and bigotry surrounding the issue, and many people who would otherwise identify as non binary, gay, trans, or other are scared to come out and embrace their true selves for fear of discrimination and violence.

Sadly, those who are confident enough to come out do experience terrible teasing, unbearable looks, and yes, brutality in the worst cases. Therefore, whenever there is a positive news story surrounding this topic, it is extremely refreshing. One town, in Mexico, seems to be years ahead of the United States in terms of accepting these people for who they truly are, which are people who just want to be able to live their truth in peace.

There is a town in Mexico that has a specific classification for people who do not identify as a part of the female or male genders. They call these non-binary individuals ‘muxes’ in the town of Juchitan. In Juchitan, there is an indigenous culture called Zapotec that accepts and embraces this third gender. Muxes may appear as men who dress as women, people who identify as one gender one day and a different gender the next, and people who are just completely gender fluid. What may be shocking the most is that these muxes are actually celebrated and are seen as being able to bring good luck to their families. Muxes are identified based more so on their economic role and their job instead of how they look or dress.