How to Tell People Your New Pronouns
by Andrew Adams
Pronouns have been the topic of many a conversation as LGBTQ+ rights, and especially trans and nonbinary rights, have become more prominent in the world’s view. Here are five places you should put them to help normalize sharing pronouns.
Your email signature
Your email signature can say anything you want it to, including your pronouns! Usually found in the settings of your email brower, creating an email signature is something that a lot of professionals use for their emails. Most people put their name first, and then contact information or information about the role you fill, and you can include pronouns at any point. My email signature, for example, features my pronouns right under my name. Then, I have my position and contact info. This is a fast and easy way to have your pronouns on every email you send!
Your name tag
This one isn’t usually something that you will have control over, but you can ask your department head, or whoever orders your name tags at your job if they can make this small change to your name badges. My employer included our pronouns on our name tags and now every person we meet knows our pronouns right away.
Social media bio
It takes ten seconds and makes a world of difference. Your social media bio includes a brief bit about you, and it should include your pronouns. The option to change your bio is typically in the edit section of most social media platforms. On Twitter, there is an option to include your location, and a lot of people have been putting their pronouns there! Also, you can put your pronouns in your name, like on Instagram or Twitter, or even in your profile picture or Bitmoji! This works on LinkedIn, too!
Resumes
On top of your resume, there should be a line or section dedicated to the basics. This includes your name, address, phone number, email address, and similar information. Include your pronouns after your name for a little inclusive flare on your resume!
Your Zoom name
Just add them to the end of your name in parentheses! For example, my name on Zoom is Andrew Adams (He/Him). It’s super easy and everyone will see it! Similarly, including your pronouns in group chat names, contact names, and other similar things is a good idea!
Even if you don’t think twice about your own pronouns outside of putting them in these places, the act of simply including them can really go a long way for making LGBTQ+ folks, especially transgender and gender nonconforming people, feel comfortable. I hope everyone has a safe and comfortable rest of the summer!
About the Author:
Andrew Adams is a transgender college sophomore at the University of Central Florida who is committed to LGBTQ advocacy at the local and national levels. Nationally, Andrew serves as a youth ambassador and advocacy volunteer for The Trevor Project, a youth social media ambassador for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and a Volunteer and Intern Coordinator for Point of Pride. On the legislative side, Andrew lobbies for the Equality Act by visiting with his Congressional representatives and their staff.
Additionally, Andrew has spent years fighting to change his school district’s bathroom policy to be trans-inclusive, and the fight is still ongoing. Andrew is an International Baccalaureate student and a volunteer at the Mayo Clinic, and he hopes to go to medical school and become an adolescent psychiatrist specializing in transgender health. For fun, he practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, creates sculpture art and plays the piano.
