Boise Needs A Lesson On Gender Pronouns

We absolutely adore Boise, Idaho. Living in the City of Trees is second to none, and we're all one big happy family here in potato country.

At least, we try to be!

Sure, we have fun and make jokes around here, but making our friends and neighbors feel seen and comfortable is extremely important to us. We don't want anyone to feel like they don't belong, they're less than, or that they aren't loved. So, let's start with something super simple: How to address someone!

This guide from Springfield.edu breaks it down almost perfectly:

• Pronouns can be in the first person singular (I, me) or plural (we, us); second person singular or plural (you); and the third person singular (e.g., she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/hir) or plural (they/them).
• Gendered pronouns specifically reference someone’s gender: he/him/his or she/her/hers.

Pretty simple, right? If someone identifies as male, we'd use he/him. For a female? She/her. Now, it does get a little more complicated when someone doesn't identify as either of those genders:

• Non-gendered or nonbinary pronouns are not gender specific and are most often used by people who identify outside of a gender binary. The most common set of nonbinary pronouns is they/them/their used in the singular (e.g., Jadzia identifies as genderqueer; they do not see themselves as either a woman or a man). Other nonbinary pronouns include ze (pronounced “zee”) in place of she/he, and hir (pronounced “here”) in place of his/him/her (e.g., Jadzia runs hir own business, but ze is more well-known as an author). The terms “it” or “he-she” are slurs used against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, and should not be used.

Phew. There. Glad we got that out of the way.

Before you angrily click away shouting at your screen about how this doesn't matter and "who cares," remember the last time someone mispronounced your name on the phone? It annoyed you, didn't it? Now imagine that happening every time you meet anyone. Doesn't sound fun. Let's not do that.