LAST September, Grammy Award- winning singer- songwriter Sam Smith came out as non- binary and asked to be addressed by the pronouns they/ them. The 27- yearold wrote on Instagram: u201c After a lifetime of being at war with my gender, Iu2019ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out.u201d Smith went on to add that on hearing people speak about non- binary identity, which is used to describe those who identify as neither exclusively male nor female, they thought, u201c f***, thatu2019s me.u201d Sitting thousands of miles away in Panvel, Ria Sharma knew exactly what Smith was experiencing. In 2017, Sharma came out as gender- fluid. As a child, Sharma felt u201c a little bit boy, and, sometimes, girlu201d. Their parents had sensed the conflict early on, and were accepting of their childu2019s uniqueness. u201c Itu2019s not that I was a fan of Smith, but when they made the announcement, I thought it was brave and inspiring,u201d says the 20- year- old.

Sharmau2019s list of queer idols also includes Alok Vaid Menon, a New York- based performance artiste, and Mumbai artist- sculptor Durga Gawde. Both prefer to be referred to by the pronoun, they.