This Pride Month, Think About The Power Of Your Pronoun

I recently made a small but deliberate change at work. I added my gender pronouns—she, her or hers—to my email signature. I did this to show my solidarity with the transgender and gender-nonconforming community. Others at the New York City Health Department have done the same. For example, those who identify as male could use he, him, and his, and people who are non-binary—meaning they do not identify as a man or a woman—may use one of the gender neutral signatures like they, them and theirs. Some may label the use of gender pronouns as political correctness gone too far. It’s just a signature ― why inject issues of gender? But my signature already implies many things. My name, “Mary,” is a female one and also Christian; my listed medical degree suggests I might be referred to formally as “Doctor”; and my title is “Commissioner.” So the question arises: What is the impact of words? June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and the need for allies of people who are transgender and gender-nonconforming has never been stronger. 2016 was one of the deadliest for the community, with at least 22 confirmed hate-related homicides of transgender and gender-nonconforming people, most of whom were women of color. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, there have been 11 murders of transgender people already in 2017 – including Mx. Bostick, a Black transgender person who lived in New York City. The rights ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news