Kids are raised in environments where he/him/his and she/her/hers are the main pronouns to assign to their family, friends, peers, etc, and they use these pronouns everyday based off of what they see in someone. Recently, people have been reassigning their pronouns, whether that be because they’re transitioning, they’re gender fluid, or they simply feel more comfortable identifying as he, she, or they, this reassignment has sparked debate. There shouldn’t be debate over something that isn’t anyone’s business.

The disrespect towards pronouns started becoming vividly prominent when transitioning was more common in the world. Society doesn’t like that a woman will willingly change their appearance and pronouns in order to identify as a man, or vice versa. People can’t handle that gender is deconstructing after so many years of having fixed gender norms and certain expectations for men and women. Those against gender reassignment would argue that someone was assigned a certain gender and that’s how it should stay. They completely disregard the fact that their acquaintance that once went by she was now asking to be referred to as he, and that’s an issue. It is not hard to fix language to respect someone and their choices. It doesn’t matter if it’s weird because someone is used to always referring to their peer as a certain pronoun, because this is a matter of respect and selflessness. There are too many people in the world that are too concerned with pronoun reassignment being ‘weird for them’ rather than making their peers comfortable in their own skin.

Additionally, society finds it weird that some people identify as gender fluid. Fluidity isn’t weird. It’s a way that someone identifies, and if they want to identify as more masculine one day and more feminine the next, there is nothing wrong with that. Society always says they can’t understand how someone is gender fluid, or why they would want to be referred to as a different pronoun. Someone doesn’t have to understand something to respect it. I don’t understand football, but I respect the fact that football players love their sport and they take a lot of pride in it. It’s something that they love and feel comfortable doing, and those who assign their pronouns love what they identify and feel comfortable with it. It’s the same concept.

Finally, society always splits the debate over pronouns into political spectrums. Gender isn’t political. It’s a matter of outdated norms and human respect, not what political party someone associates with. Not everything is political, especially when the matter involves human rights and basic respect that everyone deserves in the first place. Humans bleed the same color, regardless of whether they go by he, she, or they.

Overall, it’s easy to change vocabulary in order to respect peers and acquaintances and make them comfortable with what they choose to identify with. Regardless of the pronoun a peer goes by, they deserve the same respect as anyone else walking the earth.