A new study from the Trevor Project reports that about 1/4th of LGBTQ+ youth use gender-neutral and nonbinary pronouns.
For their latest survey, the Trevor Project (the nation's leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ folks under 25) interviewed about 40,000 LGBTQ+ people between the ages of 13 and 25 and found that 25 percent use pronouns outside of she/her and he/him.
This means around 10,000 people in the group they surveyed use gender-neutral pronouns like they/them, ze/zir, or fae/faer exclusively, or answer to a combination of those pronouns alongside he/him and she/her.
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The study also found that 75 percent of the LGBTQ+ youth surveyed use either he/him or she/her exclusively, while 4 percent use ze/zir, xe/xim, and fae/fair exclusively or alongside other pronouns.
This is an exciting glimpse into the spreading acceptance of gender-neutral pronouns. The Trevor Project points out that "respecting pronouns is part of creating a supportive and accepting environment, which impacts well-being and reduces suicide risk" and that "the best way to confirm a person’s pronouns is by asking or by introducing yourself with your pronouns, to give the person an opportunity to share theirs."
In turn, "affirming gender in school and workplace settings can begin by having a practice of sharing pronouns for everyone and setting the expectation that all individuals will have their pronouns respected by others."
