NASA Pronouns Not In Bio
I for one am not in favor of having as a requirement that I state my pronouns, nor should anyone feel that they must at the same time no one should be prevented from doing so if they like. Today NASA had a bit of a kerfuffle over pronouns being input into an agency wide system in a manner which cost nothing, disrupts nothing, and distracts from nothing. It is a harmless way for people who are LGBT or allies or who even just have a name that is let this be known if it is ever ambiguous.
These are pronouns that are used in meeting and messaging systems which may or may not involve an image and for which this could be legit unknowable. It solved a problem at least some people have.
However, some people are uncomfortable with it. I have noticed this. The judge anyone who does have pronouns in bio as being on the “other side” in the culture wars and get up at arms about it. Most people normal people don’t really care. They look at a person and use the pronouns they prefer based on how they look. If they get it wrong and are corrected, they say sorry and then use the correct one’s going forward. Like mispronouncing someone’s proper noun aka their name. That NASA of all places even found time to make a change to this system to remove the pronouns given all that is going on is surprising.
Pronouns in bio are not a political statement per se but one of support for a group of people’s fundamental right to exist. Whether that transgender person are the more libertarian ones like Blaire White or Buck Angle or hard leftist. Support for transgender rights seems to transcend those divides.
NASA released a statement
Through an effort to create a more inclusive workplace, NASA recently completed an IT project at Goddard Space Flight Center that allowed approximately 125 employees to test the option of including their gender pronouns in NASA’s email display fields — which currently includes each employee's name, center, and an organizational code. The learnings from this test will be used to inform the advancement of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
NASA is fully committed to supporting every employee's right to be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns. All NASA employees currently have the option and flexibility to include their gender pronouns in their customized email signature blocks. This option remains unchanged and is supported by NASA leadership so that employees can share their gender identities and show allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Steve Shih, NASA Associate Administrator for Diversity and Equal Opportunity
Last Updated: Mar 9, 2022
Editor: Jamie Adkins
Whoever is uncomfortable with those who want to specify any reasonable pronouns needs to just grow up. Pronouns are no more real or biological or whatever than a name is. They are words invented by people and people can choose or change them to fit their underlying biology. The binary of male men and female women fits most but not all are so close to those extremal points and fall in between and all around in that space.
It should never be a matter of policy what one is allowed to call one’s self for any government agency in a free country. A name and pronoun are very personal.
As for my pronouns. IF you ask mine I’ll just shimmy and let you draw a conclusion.