It’s hard enough explaining the pronoun issue of 2024 to people in 2024. 

Imagine trying to explain it to people in 1954.

There was “he” and “she” for as long as people had spoken the English language. There was little thought given to people who didn’t want to be categorized by either or neither of those two gender pronouns.

And it’s not that the idea of being transgender was nonexistent.

Just 16 months before I was born, the New York Daily News reported the news that World War II veteran George Jorgensen had undergone what’s now called sexual reassignment surgery – and was now Christine Jorgensen.

But Jorgensen indicated she wanted to be a she (she also preferred “transgender” to the then commonly used “transsexual.”).

It wasn’t until this century – as taboos and laws about sexuality, and qualifications for jobs by gender were erased or relaxed – that people began questioning how we should identify people. While most people still prefer “he” or “she,” others wanted something less attachable.

Here’s the problem: What became the norm is what is generally regarded as third person plural – “they.”

It is more than a little confusing. It’s especially confusing when you first refer to an individual as “they” and then refer a group of people as “they.”

I get and respect the idea that there are people who don’t think their gender should affect their identification. I just think that there must be a way to come up with a better word than “they.”

It feels lazy – as though society ran out of words and decided to multipurpose one.

Again, this is not a discussion that would make sense in 1954. Whether it makes sense now is a matter of point of view.