Dance Moms star Zackery Torres reveals they are transitioning after coming out as trans, non-binary

Dance Moms alum Zackery Torres has announced that they are transitioning after coming out as transgender and non-binary. 

The 22-year-old, who uses both they/them and she/her pronouns, took to TikTok on May 30 to share their ‘life update’ with their followers, saying it was the first time they’ve opened up about themself since December 2020. 

‘I’m transitioning!’ the reality star shared. ‘That means I’m transgender if you didn’t know. My pronouns are they/she, which means that they or she are totally fine, and I’m just hopping on here to tell you that I’m going to be posting more on TikTok and I’m excited about it!’ 

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More than 50,000 people liked the post, and hundreds of fans shared their excitement for Torres in the comments.   

‘YES BABE I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOU. I CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH MORE OF YOUR JOURNEY!!’ one person wrote, while another added: ‘So happy for you!!! Much love babe.’

Someone else asked if they planned on changing their name, and Torres said they will be going by Zackery Lennon.

In March, Torres celebrated their 22nd birthday by sharing childhood photos of themself, writing: ‘This is (and always was) Zackery Lennon Torres (they/she), a transgender, non-binary person. 

‘Thank you to everyone who has helped me feel loved and ready to be my full self at #22!’ they added. 

Torres was the first male-born contestant on Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition with coach Abby Lee Miller and later starred alongside Madison Ziegler on Dance Moms. 

Torres celebrated graduating with honors from the University of Southern California this month with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance,’ E! Online reported. 

The dancer shared a photo of themself wearing their red and gold sash, with the caption: ‘Today’s the big day, Zackery *in my parents’ voice.’  

They are already enrolled in a Masters of Arts program in public relations and advertising and are expected to graduate from the one-year program in 2022, according to their Twitter page.  

Torres, who came out as gender nonbinary during their sophomore year at USC, opened up to the school’s student newspaper The Daily Trojan last year about how their experience on Dance Moms shaped their coming out.   

‘I started seeing all of the expectations that teachers — well-known dance teachers, and well-known choreographers — had for me as a male dancer growing up and at the time identifying as a boy,’ they said. ‘”Oh, you’re too feminine, you need to dance like a man.” Just having teachers tell you that on national television, all this stuff, it kind of really got to me.’ 

They added: ‘Everyone always talks about how inclusive the arts communities are. But I’m just not really feeling it. I’m not seeing it on an everyday scale.’

Inspired by their experiences as a dancer in the public eye, Torres founded Continuum Community, a company that aims to provide resources for gender inclusivity, last July.  

A month later, they published An Evolving Conversation on Gender: Dance Edition, a guidebook to gender inclusivity in the dance community.   

‘My goal in some way is to keep growing, keep pushing, so that any little young dancers out there can look up and see a non-binary dancer who went through the convention circuit, who went to college, who is trying to do something better for the community,’ Torres explained during a conversation with ballet teacher Francisco Gella in March. 

‘When I think about gender inclusivity and I think about how we can best move forward as a society and how we evolve and grow, I think about compromise…It’s not about us compromising our identity; it’s about those who feel strong enough and feel comfortable enough to meet in the middle for a minute to then bring everyone over to the side of inclusivity.’