5 Non-Gendered Greetings to Help People Feel Welcome
Inclusive second-person pronouns that honour those who identify as non-binary
Welcome, everyone! I’ll start with a disclaimer: I don’t identify as non-binary. But have non-binary friends and I care a whole bunch about helping people feel welcome. And language is a great place to start, because it is an area each of us has control over.
A lot of attention has been given to third-person pronouns — he/him, she/her, they/them. But little attention goes to second-person pronouns used when speaking directly to someone.
“You” is the classic second-person pronoun. But it doesn’t work well in the plural unless you use “you guys” (think Chunk from the Goonies, but still gender-problematic) or “youse guys” if you’re from Philadelphia.
“Ladies and gentleman” is inherently flawed because of its binary nature. When I hear MCs use it now, I cringe for all the gender-fluid people in the audience and for the speaker’s lack of social awareness.
The challenge is to find a greeting that works for you and the situation. Some occasions may call for a level of formality that the traditional “ladies and gentleman” once fitted.
