"[Although] in the beginning, he was nice to me, he would say these extremely problematic things," Stause claimed. "I have a deep core issue with people who think that way, so it was upsetting. Even though he was being nice, he compared people being non-binary to mental illness."
"I realised that there would be people who had never met a single openly queer person in their life, reading this alongside people who would probably already feel quite shocked by all of the other revelations and my journey with gender identity."
Ben moves in with their estranged older sister and her husband after being thrown out of their parents' home for coming out as non-binary. As Ben navigates young adulthood, they find support from an eccentric art teacher and a kind-hearted student.
"Read a book! Open a book. Read it and don't let it just be a picture book! Get a dictionary. Learn some words. Sorry, learn to read! Honestly, please."
