The Power of Labels: LGBT community stresses appropriate pronouns

Words carry immeasurable significance and can play a large influence in the identity of a person, especially in the transgender community. A transgender individual is a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate. Transgender people are often faced with the incorrect usage of words by society.
A club at Peninsula that reaches out to the transgender community specifically is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) club. The LGBT club supports a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. The club includes students from surrounding high schools in the South Bay area where club members are given the opportunity to meet with students of the same age and with similar viewpoints.
Peninsula LGBT club president and junior Ciro Fidaleo recently shared his views on the language used to label transgender people.
“Usually, transgender people identify themselves by what you would refer to them as,” Fidaleo said. “For example, if you see a person acting or appearing more like a guy, you would prefer to say ‘he’ or ‘him’ and vice versa for girls. But the best thing to do is to really just ask them what they would prefer. From what I have noticed, it is just a matter of their personal preference.”
Junior and LGBT club secretary Annabelle David constantly reaches out to the members of the club. She states that some transgender people prefer specific terms and there are others who prefer to be approached and asked their preference.
“You cannot group all the transgender people as a specific pronoun,” David said. “Some people prefer ‘they’ and ‘them’ pronouns, others prefer ‘he’ and ‘him’ or ‘she’ and ‘her,’ so it is really difficult and it depends on the individual and [which] pronouns [they prefer].”
The misuse of pronouns can greatly affect the lives of transgender people. Although Peninsula is known to have an accepting environment, transgender students often feel as if they are treated differently from other students.
“I think there could be a lot more done, especially with teachers,” David said. “I know of some teachers who do not really try to use correct pronouns or they [believe almost all people conform to their biological gender]. I feel like they do not mean to exclude transgender people on purpose but they do have this feeling, almost like they do not even try to notice or think that there may be transgender people in their classroom and they are not very careful and accepting.”
Over time, discrimination towards the transgender community has lessened and efforts to reach out to them have improved. Both Fidaleo and David feel that society has grown more accepting and will continue to do so as time progresses.
“In more recent years, people are becoming more open, not only just female to male trans and male to female trans, but people who do not identify in the gender binaries,” David said. “I feel like it is becoming a lot more accepting, especially on this campus. I feel like we are heading in the right direction.”