Easy tips for Trans-Inclusive Language

London is looking rainbow-fabulous in the run-up to our Pride march this weekend.

I’ll be watching my teen walk the parade and dancing the day away with my almost 80 year-old-mum!

Last year there was a huge outpouring of support for the trans community.  I hope this year is the same.

I love this piece by inclusive language consultant Ettie Bailey-King: 9 Ways to be Trans-Inclusive.

Her top tips for more trans-inclusive language:

1. Share our pronouns all the time – in our social media bio, email signature, when we meet people.  I’m going to lead with mine from now on in masterclasses.  (Please remind me if I forget!)

2. Practise breaking the binary – ‘Everybody/folks’ not ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’

3. Use the singular ‘they’ as your default pronoun – This has taken me a little while to get used to, but now feels like second nature.  Like with sharing your pronouns, using the singular ‘they’ normalises gender inclusion.  If I do trip up, I correct myself and move on.  No biggie.  People understand.

4. You/They not He/She – Ettie uses a great example of writing about staff policies e.g. instead of ‘She/he must use his/her holiday days’ we could write: ‘Staff must use their allocated holiday days’ or ‘You must use your allocated holiday days.’

Easy, right?  Do read the whole article and check out Ettie’s great work here.