Posted on 09/21/2015 6:46:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) - A number of colleges now offer gender neutral pronoun options to acknowledge transgender students. Harvard University has become one of the most recent to embrace words like ze and hir (pronounced 'zee' and 'hear,' respectively).
"The classification of students by one of two genders if a student doesn't identify by that gender, its a way of making that student continue to feel like an outsider," said Chad Thomas, professor of English with a specialization in gender studies at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Research shows that many transgender people attempt suicide due to a lack of acceptance. Thomas says it's an easy way to show support to a subculture often subject to bullying.
"I think there will be backlash, but thats because change is hard," said Thomas. "If you're in that 99-percentile that identify as' he or she' then of course its going to be alien to you that someones inside might not match their outside."
At the beginning of almost every school year, a teacher would ask a student if they have any other names or nicknames they would rather be called. It's the same concept, and it's not a new one either.
As far back as 2009, schools like the University of Vermont have been allowing students to pick their gender pronouns, at a critical stage in one's life to feel accepted.
"It's an incredibly significant age because we are training them to be adults, better human beings," said Thomas.
He went on to say that it is likely to become more usual than unusual in coming years as the nation and world become more accepting of differing sexual identities and orientations.
Closer to home, the University of Tennessee pushed students to use gender-neutral language this year.
I honestly don’t know.
DUDE!!!!
Men were men, women were women and the rest stayed in the closet were the belonged.
I’ve always wanted to be a lumberjack.
No, Chad. You are not training them to be adults. You are training them to remain as spoiled little children who "feel" that the world revolves around them and their pet neuroses.
?
When do we get to hear from the students who are offended by no longer being considered “him” or “her”? I know I would be ticked!
Reading the news in this country is like watching The Magic Christian after ingesting some very potent acid. Except that it’s not funny.
You don’t “train” adolescents to be adults. The use of that word tells us all we need to know about the goals and methods of colleges and the entire F’d up indoctrination factories masquerading as schools.
Bravo sierra. They’re just trying to be the next “group” to alter our normal language.
If you can’t be first, be next.
These folks didn’t/wouldn’t have fought.
Thanks for responding. I’m not familiar with much of Monty Python’s work ... missed the reference. My bad.
This is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have read in years.
Heterophobic term.
Freak, Confused, Mentally Defective, Deviant, all seem to be “Gender Nuetral” tome.
Instead of he or she? “It”
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