Growing up in an environment that did not appreciate or understand diversity or the LGBTQ+ community made its impact on a younger me.

 I may have been born biologically as a female and may dress up more feminine than masculine, but that does not mean my pronouns are invisible. I believe that this can be a difficult subject for people to wrap their minds around.

Ever since middle school, I have been surrounded by LGBTQ+ members and that has brought a different perspective to what I originally grew up with. As I got older, I felt more comfortable with using he/she/they pronouns while also exploring my own sexuality.

People also believe that clothes define a gender or that clothes have gender in general. Clothes are clothes and wearing them a certain way does not entitle a person to mistreat the human wearing them. 

Some people don’t even try to use the correct pronouns and continue to misgender others. Not only is this disrespectful, it makes the person feel invalidated. Since pronouns are a part of a person’s identity, not acknowledging them is like saying you do not see them as a whole. 

I also want to clarify that everyone has pronouns whether they are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not. There is a common misconception that only LGBTQ+ members use pronouns. If one refers to themselves as a boy, then he will go by he/him pronouns.

So, if a boy does not want people referring to him as she/her because he is a boy, then that’s exactly why people should call others by the right pronouns. 

I have a friend who is born as a male and also goes by any pronouns, but is considering only going by she/her pronouns because it makes them feel more comfortable. Even if people may not know at first, this is a prime example that it’s good to always ask someone what pronouns they go by, especially when it’s the first time meeting them.

I have also heard complaints where people say there are bigger problems in the world than arguing over pronouns. If someone can’t respect a simple thing as what to refer to someone by, it will be awhile before we can try to solve and fix other issues. 

Just like how children learn to be hateful towards race, one doesn’t just randomly hate the LGBTQ+. As the future generation, we should teach our younger ones to grow with love and treat one another kindly. The younger generation should learn not to make negative assumptions.

I’ve recently seen that SHS is slowly starting to adjust to the amount of queer students they have. For example, The Journal is going to start to ask for pronouns as one of their questions. Most teachers are understanding when a student says they go by something else. 

All these changes will have a bigger impact as time goes by. Change can’t happen immediately, but SHS can tackle it one at a time. This school is meant to be a safe place for all who attend, and we can start by making the student body feel welcomed.