Today’s topic is to critique a piece of art work or express my opinion on a topic. As someone who is extremely self critical I thought I would harshly critique my own art so I have decided to express my opinion on something.

Actually, what I want to discuss my opinion on is the importance of respecting people’s pronouns. Unfortunately, this one of the many issues that is dividing the United States at the moment and I personally think its sad.

Not everyone goes by the gender they were given at birth. I don’t go by female pronouns. Hell, I don’t go by male pronouns either. I go by they/them pronouns as I consider myself gender nonconforming or non binary.

So as you can tell this topic is near and dear to my heart. Many folks like myself are very passionate about this subject as we want to be respected like others. It’s important for the respect factor as well as many other factors. Factors that are stated below.

Why is it so important to respect people’s gender identity and preferred pronouns? Statistics show that 82% of transgender and non-conforming individuals don’t feel safe at work and/or school. The same stats show that 67% have been bullied online while 64% have had property destroyed. The effecting of being bullied especially regard gender identity are: six times more likely to be depressed; eight times more likely to attempt to die by suicide; and three times more likely to have a substance use disorder (SUD). To answer the question of why is it important to respect a person’s gender identity and pronouns is that it can literally safe someone’s life and is common courtesy to do so. It is also important that we respect each other as fellow human beings and that we value each other as individuals even if we don’t always get along.