Back-to-School: Vermont College Hands out Gender Pronoun Pins to Students
“Hello, my pronouns are Xe/Xem/Xyrs.”
8.31.2016
26
A college in Vermont is handing out gender pronoun pins so that students don't use the wrong pronouns with one another.
The gender pin options at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont are numerous.
“Hello, my pronouns are Xe/Xem/Xyrs,” one button declares. Another expresses a preference for “They/Them/Theirs,” even when referring to a singular person. There’s even a pin declaring “Hello, my pronouns are fluid. Please ask me!” available for those whose gender identity and accompanying pronouns allegedly change over time.
The pins are a way for the administration to roll out the welcome mat to students with "non-binary" gender identity.
“We have a number of students who identify as transgender or on the non-binary spectrum, and about a week before orientation while we were pulling together materials, the idea just kind of came out of the air,” residential life director Danelle Berube said. “It just seemed like a no-brainer — a very easy way to make the first day of college for a number of our students maybe a little bit easier.”
"We have seen a lot of students who have really taken hold of pronoun use as being something they recognize as being an important way of showing respect and acceptance and support to their peers and to themselves," said Maggie Melvin, associate director of the campus' new Women and Gender Center.
The pins are popular as the school has handed out hundreds of pins to new or returning students. The school had to produce more pins after the initial supply ran out.
Said Sarah McNally, a student advocate for LGBT community members,"I think the pins are good. ... When you create a culture that says, 'Hey, we ask people's pronouns, we don't assume them,' that really lets students know that that's the culture of the school, and they can either accept it or not."
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