I have pondered what on earth these non-binary people mean, and I think I need to speak to an actual one. I did read an article about a non-binary who had a child. (Read: she was a woman!)
Well, Zir* was in trouble with the province, because she refused to register her child. Because then she would have had to put down the gender, formerly called "sex." Zir didn't want the child to be forced into a gender role, by putting something on the birth certificate. Zir wanted to wait until the child made up its own mind about whether it was binary (and which sex it identified with) or non-binary. She was demanding changes to the law in BC, so no-one had to register their children at birth.
I kid you not! It was a serious article, and the leftist CBC reporter showed sincere sympathy for her cause.
Because, who needs a birth certificate? Why not just make it up, as you go along?
And to think I thought things were weird when I was young!
*Zir is an arbitrary pronoun I have seen used for these people. I think there are about 50 of these alternate pronouns, now!
Up side down world.
https://nypost.com/2016/05/19/city-issues-new-guidelines-on-transgender-pronouns/
Not using transgender pronouns could get you fined
Employers and landlords who intentionally and consistently ignore using pronouns such as “ze/hir” to refer to transgender workers and tenants who request them — may be subject to fines as high as $250,000.
The Commission on Human Rights’ legal guidelines mandate that anyone who providing jobs or housing must use individuals’ preferred gender pronouns.
As the regulations, updated late last year, point out, some transgender individuals prefer to use pronouns other than he/him/his or she/her/hers.
Examples of less prominent pronouns that some transgender people may choose, according to the city, are: “ze,” which is the third person singular, such as he and she; and “hir,” which is the third person plural, similar to they.
The legal enforcement is in line with the city’s guidance on discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
“Gender expression may not be distinctively male or female and may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities,” the city advises.
The city insisted that accidentally misusing a transgender person’s preferred pronoun is not against the law and would not be subject to a fine.
The updated regulations are meant to address “situations in which individuals intentionally and repeatedly target transgender and gender non-conforming people with this type of harassment,” Commission spokesman Seth Hoy told the Post Thursday.
“The Commission issued this guidance last year so that employers and individuals understand what the law says and to ensure that every transgender individual in New York City is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” Hoy added.
Penalties of up to $250,000 can be imposed for violations that are deemed to be the result of malicious intent.
The idea of using pronouns other than “he/she” has come to light in the past decade as more people are identifying with “non-binary” gender roles, meaning not traditional male/female.
The Obama administration last week issued a decree mandating that every US public-school district allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identities.
“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.
New California law allows jail time for using wrong gender pronoun, sponsor denies that would happen | Fox News
New California law allows jail time for using wrong gender pronoun, sponsor denies that would happen
California health care workers who “willfully and repeatedly” decline to use a senior transgender patient's “preferred name or pronouns” could face punishments ranging from a fine to jail time under a newly signed law.
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation last week.
The sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, has argued adamantly that nobody is going to be criminally prosecuted for using the wrong pronoun.
“It’s just more scare tactics by people who oppose all LGBT civil rights and protections,” he said in a statement last month.
But the language seemingly allows for the possibility, however remote.
The bill itself is aimed at protecting transgender and other LGBT individuals in hospitals, retirement homes and assisted living facilities. The bill would ensure those facilities accommodate transgender people and their needs, including letting them decide which gender-specific bathroom they prefer to use.
"It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to take any of the following actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status," the bill reads
Among the unlawful actions are “willfully and repeatedly” failing to use a transgender person’s “preferred name or pronouns” after he or she is “clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.”
The law states that if provisions are violated, the violator could be punished by a fine “not to exceed one thousand dollars” or “by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year,” or both.
Wiener's office noted that violations for residential care facilities under existing law rarely resulted in criminal charges, especially for minor violations. Criminal penalties are meant more for violations that expose a patient to risk of death or serious harm, his office said.
Wiener’s office noted that the law “does not create any new criminal provisions,” but rather creates “new rights within an existing structure.”
One opponent of the law, the California Family Council's Greg Burt, slammed the measure when the bill was in its early stages.