“When someone asks you ‘please use he/him or she/her when talking about me’ that’s just to say ‘talk about me as if I were a man, because I am a man” or ‘as if I were a woman, because that’s what I am.’ So, for me, for example, I said my pronouns are they/them, so what I’m asking you to do is to talk about me as if I don’t have a gender because I do not. I am neither a man nor a woman, I’m non-binary…

“It is important, as well, for cisgender people to do that because it normalizes the idea of introducing yourself using your pronouns. If people like Mike (Kinman) introduce themselves using their pronouns all the time, it’s not weird that I’m going up and saying ‘my pronouns are they/them,’ it’s a normal part of our conversation and our language. It means that transgender people don’t have to be continually be outing themselves as trans, and saying ‘I’m trans, and this is really an important big deal in my life,’ it’s just a normal part of conversation and of introductions. So cisgender people introducing themselves with their pronouns as well is just very helpful for us, and it’s something you can do as allies.” ~ Hannah Earnshaw

The All Saints LGBTQ+ Vision Team in the Rector’s Forum at All Saints Church, Pasadena, on Sunday, October 20, 2019.

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