Pronouns are an important part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the rest of society. They define us as a person, and give us as humans more comfortable labels. If not for them, conversations would sound pretty weird. For example if you are telling a friend about your favorite song artist, and l make up the name Lynda Smith for example. You may end up saying, ‘Have you heard of the singer Lynda Smith? Lynda is so good! My favorite song by Lynda is (insert song name).’ See? It sounds awkward, doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons that pronouns are important. “…actively choosing to ignore the pronouns someone has stated that they go by could imply the oppressive notion that intersex, transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people do not or should not exist.” says mypronouns.org

However, a person’s gender identity is not always the same as what we assign them at birth based of of their body parts. This is where trans, nonbinary, and other people who aren’t cisgender (identifying with what they were assigned at birth) come in. It is equally important to respect the pronouns of these individuals. Sadly, the Catamount made a mistake and misgendered one such individual, and we offer our most sincere apologies.  

“When someone is referred to with the wrong pronoun, it can make them feel disrespected, invalidated, dismissed, alienated, or dysphoric ( often all of the above.)” says the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender resource center. This goes to show that even professional places believe in the importance of using the right pronouns.