More than 50 colleges are endorsing the inaugural International Pronouns Day on Oct. 17 to “make asking, sharing, and respecting personal pronouns commonplace.”
“Just as it can be offensive or even harassing to make up a nickname for someone and call them that nickname against their will, it can be offensive or harassing to guess at someone’s pronouns and refer to them using those pronouns if that is not how that person wants to be known,” according to MyPronouns.org. “Or, worse, 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.”
The International Pronouns Day board consists of various people representing a range of universities from Ithaca College in New York to the University of Michigan to the University of Wisconsin. The holiday campaign is an independent project supported by endorsers.
Ways people can celebrate include asking campuses or student groups to make pronouns an optional field in student records, distributing educational materials in high traffic places like libraries and letting people make their own pronoun buttons, according to the holiday’s website.
Endorsers outside of colleges include Association of Title IX Administrators, various Planned Parenthood chapters and the American Sociological Association.
Ithaca’s mayor and 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Law & Policy Svante Myrick recognized the holiday, according to The Ithacan on Monday.
Pronouns Day did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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