Sunday, September 09, 2018

Legal pressure on some schools, businesses to use gender-neutral pronouns

There is a movement to force schools, colleges, employers, landlords and public accommodations to force the use of gender-neutral pronouns for gender fluid or transgender people who want them.
In New York City (according to a 2016 New York Post story) the neutral pronoun third person singular would be “ze” and plural “hir:.  It’s not clear why you need a plural because “they” (“their”, “them”) does not imply gender. But you would need possessive “zer” direct object “zim”. 
“Gender unspecified” would not have the same connotation as “neuter” in German.  Romance languages would need to invent gender unknown pronouns and cases, as would German.

One question is what would make such a change “official”, like according to the Chicago Manual of Style. 

Indeed, there is a conceptual objection in some areas to allowing the use of the word “marriage” for same-sex unions (even with equivalent benefits) because the language has no way to imply that a person has a commitment to a monogamous relationship that can allow complementary sexual intercourse. But this would serve a political objective of lessening potential discrimination, even against the single or childless. 

Update: Sept. 13

"EI", conservative vlogger, who looks hot himself as a cis male, weighs in on transphobia and trans fads. 

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