The Academy Award nominations are rightly under attack for lack of diversity, but there is one nominee getting the attention she deserves. Antony “Anohni” Hegarty is the first trans-person to be nominated for an Oscar since British composer Angela Morley in the 1970s.

The singer-songwriter of Antony & The Johnsons (named after Marsha P. Johnson, the drag pioneer of the ’70s who some credit with launching the Stonewall riots) is nominated for Best Original Song, Manta Ray, in the documentary Racing Extinction.

Several actors have won awards for playing transgender characters — Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club and perhaps Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl — but it is still exceedingly rare for trans-artists to be nominated for an Oscar.

However, Hegarty hasn’t transitioned in the traditional sense of the word transgender. Rather, as trans-identifying with a preference for feminine pronouns, she exists between the two gender binaries. “I am speaking out about my experiences, but I can’t speak for anyone else,” she told The Independent. “Especially because my situation is ambiguous because I haven’t transitioned from male to female.” 

Here she is discussing her trans-identity…