Pronoun importance and celebrating pride with confidence

LGBTQ+ PRIDE SPECIAL | OPINION

We must normalize preferred pronouns

BY GERALDINE ESPINOSA @DailyWildcat

The way a person presents themselves physically does not always reveal their gender identity. One’s gender identity is the “personal sense of one’s own gender,” whether masculine, feminine, both or neither. With that, a person with a beard is not always a man and a person wearing a dress is not always a woman. We as a society have been conditioned to correlate certain physical presentations and behaviors with a particular gender, which can be harmful to those who do not traditionally conform to the gender binary.

A significant part of one’s gender identity is their preferred pronouns. A person’s pronouns are directly correlated with their gender identity and when you respect a person’s preferred pronouns, you’re respecting and validating their gender identity. We must unlearn ideas and behaviors in which we assume one’s gender and thus assume their pronouns. Everyone must normalize the idea and the use of a person’s preferred pronouns, but where do we start?

One of the easiest ways to normalize preferred pronouns is

LGBTQ+ PRIDE SPECIAL | OPINION

BY PASCAL ALBRIGHT

@pascalloves their life soundtrack, pride is a five-letter word that gets lost in translation.

In a world with such diversity, pride gets attached to so many subjects and causes, from things like LGBTQ+ pride to political pride. But for a moment, let us create our own translation and look at it as not a four-letter word but as a way of living. When boiling down this word, several things come to mind but one more powerful than the rest: self-confidence. When I think of pride, I think of being proud of not only who you are but also what you bring to this world.

For myself, I am proud to be able to contribute to society through my associations. Whether it’s producing art for the world, being able to share my experiences with others or sharing a smile with someone, each is as valuable to this world putting them in your social media bios and putting them in your email signature. In doing so, you are not only making your pronouns known, but also helping to create normalcy around the concept. Normalizing is vital and including your preferred pronouns in this area of your life shows their importance; it shows that pronouns are not something to ignore, even if your gender matches your sex.

Other ways to include preferred pronouns in everyday interactions is when introducing yourself to include your preferred pronouns and asking the other person’s in return. When introducing yourself one-on-one or in a group setting, sharing your pronouns can be as easy as, “Hi, my name is Geraldine and I use the pronouns she/they.” You then open a window for other people to include their pronouns during their introduction. You can always ask people, too, if they don’t include them. Sometimes people can feel that asking a person’s pronouns can come off as awkward or even rude, but asking a person’s preferred pronouns is always better than assuming.

When the conversation of gender identity and preferred pronouns is brought up, not many people are educated on the topic. With that, we must also normalize apologizing. If you accidentally misgender someone, you should apologize, learn their correct pronouns, and move forward. In a Gender and Sex Development pamphlet put together by the as the last. And while individual contributions to this world may seem small, you can think of the ant. They are very small creatures but provide major contributions to this world. And if they could talk in our dialect, they may first bitch a bit, but if asked I’m sure they would say they’d be proud or prideful to be themselves.

That is the big take-away. Even the smallest creatures should share their pride with the world! We celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride in Tucson in the fall, but why stop there? I listen to ABBA almost every day because I can, so let’s be proud of ourselves and every fiber that makes up that self — no matter what color of the rainbow we fit into.

At the end of every day we should feel like a “Dancing Queen” when it comes to self-confidence and inner pride. I am proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community as an openly gay man who can contribute to social conversations/changes with my diverse ideas and background. Humans get so caught up about the negatives of differences when the celebration of diversity is what makes the world colorful. The world is better with a rainbow of colors shining as bright as each other.

I’m not going to lie when I say the world can be a tough place to live in sometimes. Clouds of despair seem to be in our atmosphere sometimes, but I try to look at it from a different lens to help myself get through those days. The world is filled with bad days and that’s ok, many people go through them and Children’s Hospital of Chicago, they said the best apology for misgendering someone is “not doing it again,” and I couldn’t agree more. In addition to that, it is important to correct people who are actively misgendering someone. Whether accidental or not, the behavior must be addressed. To be a good ally to genderqueer, non-binary and trans folks in our community, we must protect them and one way to do that is by correcting someone when they are using the wrong pronouns.

Normalizing the use of a person’s preferred pronouns is a substantial way of minimizing harm for those who are transgender, genderqueer and non-binary. According to WomenforWomen.org, members of the LGBTQ+ community can be found among some of the most vulnerable people in our community as they can be subjected to gender-based violence, which is defined as “physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse, threats, coercion, and economic or educational deprivation, whether occurring in public or private life.” Respecting a person’s preferred pronouns is a way to reduce harm against the LGTBQ+ community. — Geraldine is a junior majoring in journalism. She likes to bake and read

Pride, stolz, fierté, orgulho, ponos, zìháo

Pride is a word with endless meanings that fits into many molds. For me, an openly gay man who heavily believes in glitter as a necessary accessory and ABBA Gold as

in her free time come out the other side. Don’t get hung up on how bad things are, think of the small things that are great, be proud of your contributions to society, you are amazing. Not everyone is a giant that can move boulders, even the small ant contributes to society and that is amazing.

A world where diversity can be celebrated from the smallest ant to the biggest mountain is a world where the future shines bright. As a young person the struggle with self-identity and self-confidence can be tough but know that we each are our own rainbows made up of many colors and that is beautiful! If we are all the same, the world would be boring. Just the fact that you are who you are is amazing and you should celebrate that and we should celebrate that as a world!

Now you know what pride means to me and I hope you can celebrate your individual pride with yourself and the world. In the words of ABBA I say “Thank you for the music,” and you are an amazing contribution to this world. Share your pride!

— Pascal Albright is a fourth-year journalism and religious studies student.  ey are active in their community and looking forward to a brighter future for us all