This week, we welcome Jae Lin (they / them), who is ready to answer my many questions about and generally discuss the experiences of gender and identity in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Jae is Programs Manager at the new Games and Harassment Hotline, a text support hotline for anyone who makes or plays games. 
We spent much of our time exploring several aspects of the safe haven that so many of us enjoy in ACNH, which is a reprieve for those of us for whom IRL can feel risky, because of our gender, race, or gender expression. In ACNH, you can walk around at night without fear of harm, you can swim and dive and feel comfortable around others, and every villager accepts you for exactly who you are. What a world!
Jae also helped to bring clarity to some terms that those of us who are not trans hear and might sort of understand but still misuse, such as gender dysphoria, transgender and cisgender, and queer.
The Animal Crossing franchise has come a loooong way over the years in providing more flexible ways to create your character's physical identity in the game, from skin, hair, and eye color to the availability of each of those options to every player, regardless of gender. Buuuut you still must choose between gender binary avatars before you can access the first menu of those options, so there is still room for Nintendo to grow. And we must keep giving them feedback to encourage them to continue to create a game with as few limitations on players as possible.
Jae is on Twitter as @enviplaysgames and Instagram as @doodlemealive. They mentioned OutYouth as the sponsor of an annual Trans Night Swim  in our home city of Austin, Texas.
The Games and Online Harassment Hotline is a free, text message-based, confidential emotional support hotline.
Text SUPPORT to 23368 to get started. We are open 4pm – 7pm (Pacific) every Monday – Friday. USA only. 
https://gameshotline.org/ and follow us @gameshotline on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.