Welcome to LGBTQ+ for Dummies
-- Part 2 -- PRONOUNS!
It's PRIDE month and we're celebrating and learning more about the LGBTQ+ community. And as a straight white male, I thought it fitting that I'd ask the uncomfortable questions many of us are afraid to ask. To answer these questions we have special guest expert Michelle Raymond from myGwork, a LinkedIn-like platform for the LGBTQ+ community, who will be droppin' the knowledge.
Listen and Learn!
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LGBTQ+ INTRO (29s):
Welcome to LGBTQ plus for Dummies part two. It's Pride month, and we're celebrating and learning more about the LGBTQ plus community. And as a straight white dude, I thought it might be fitting that I would ask the uncomfortable questions many of us are afraid to ask. To answer these questions we have special guest expert, Michelle Raymond from My G Work, a LinkedIn like platform for the LGBTQ plus community will be dropping the knowledge.
LGBTQ+ INTRO (1m 13s):
Let's do this.
Chad (1m 20s):
Okay. Thanks for joining us again, Michelle, let's jump right into question number two. This one comes from Jesse in Provo, Utah. Jesse writes. Why is everyone using pronouns all of a sudden?
Michelle (1m 34s):
Jesse, great question. So when someone asks you to use their pronouns, basically what they're just asking for you to do, is to respect their identity. And so we've talked up until this point about gender expression and gender identity. And so the way that someone can express themselves is through pronouns. And so if they ask you to use their pronouns, it's just a sign of respect, and it's also addressing that you hear them. And if you choose to use the wrong pronoun, which people often do, what this says is it can lead a person to feeling disrespected, it can lead to dysphoria, exclusion and alienation, so when we talk about pronouns, that's something as simple as calling someone went by, he, him, his, she, her, hers, or they, them, theirs.
Chad (2m 16s):
Gotcha. Okay. So I have a cheat code. I want to share with you. And I want, I want to know what you think about it. Are you ready?
Michelle (2m 22s):
I'm ready to go for it.
Chad (2m 23s):
So my cheat code for the whole pronoun thing is just use the person's name, if you're talking about the person instead of having to use, he, she or they. Use the person's name, Michelle, I was talking about Michelle. People don't mind hearing their own name and not to mention if they hear you talking about them and using their name, once again, it shows respect not to mention for dumb white dudes like myself and Joel, sometimes it's a little confusing. So I look for cheat codes like this, because the last thing I want to do is disrespect someone just because I don't understand and/or I feel uncomfortable.
Michelle (3m 0s):
Yes. I think this is a great initiative. I also have some other tips in case you don't want to say Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle, every other sentence. So I think that is a great tip to start with. And then some other ones just to think about are, of course, you know, if you are someone that has a pronoun that you want to be addressed by first, offer that up to whoever you're speaking to. So I can say my name is X and my pronouns are Y Z example. But in your case, when you're asking someone, you can just say something as simple as what language do you prefer people to use? Just as they ask, or you can even mirror that person. So for example, if I'm using a term to talk about myself, you can adopt that term when speaking with me. Take up the social clue and know maybe that's the way that I like to be referred to.
Michelle (3m 43s):
The other thing is to be strong for the people that want to be referred at a certain way, just say, please refer to me as X. And you can also let people know if you're not being referred by the correct pronoun just say, look, when you refer to me as X, it makes me feel Y, so please use Z in the future.
Chad (3m 60s):
Gotcha. Well, that's awesome. Again, thanks Michelle for joining us again. This is Michelle Raymond from My G Work. Thank you so much. And don't forget, we have more of these LGBTQ plus for Dummies. Look for them. This is only part two.
Michelle (4m 16s):
Thank you so much.
Chad (4m 18s):
We out.
LGBTQ+ OUTRO (4m 18s):
Thank you to Michelle and the crew over at My G Work for participating in LGBTQ plus for Dummies, a pride special podcast series from the Chad and Cheese, HR's most dangerous podcast. Check us out@chadcheese.com and subscribe on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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