My name is Shige Sakurai and I go by they/them or ze/zir pronouns. I am the founder of International Pronouns Day, which takes place on the third Wednesday of October each year.

On International Pronouns Day, many people are posting their pronouns online, raising awareness, conducting outreach or educational events, distributing materials, decorating pronouns pins, publishing articles, sharing art projects and stories, and more.

International Pronouns Day is a container for how we can collectively raise awareness at the grassroots level. But, what can you do beyond just this one day?

What can you do as an individual?

Respect others’ pronouns. Practice on your own so that you can improve your comfort and capabilities. For example, by yourself or with a trusted friend, practice telling a story in which the main character goes by they/them pronouns. Or ze/zir pronouns. Or only by the character’s name with no pronouns. When you make a mistake, practice how you will actually correct yourself and move forward. Share your own pronouns. Consider sharing in all the places where you are introduced or where your name appears for the first time. Sharing your pronouns helps invite others to share their pronouns. But be ready to respect others’ pronouns before you just share your own. Invite others to share their pronouns if they wish, and be prepared to educate folks and explain why you are inviting them to share and how to engage this topic respectfully. This is not about going through the motions of some symbolic gesture of inclusion, this is about actually educating people and creating an environment where everyone can flourish. There are online resources that can help you to learn all of these things. One starting point is my website, MyPronouns.org, which I hope can give you some useful starting points and further details.

What can your organization do?

Hire Black trans women. Hire feminine trans folks, nonbinary people, androgynous folks, intersex people. Hire trans and gender nonconforming people, especially people of color and indigenous folks. Provide an environment where you can recruit and retain a diverse group and nurture the best talent. Provide trainings (again, pay trans folks as trainers) within your organization so that individuals can become more comfortable and knowledgeable about respecting, sharing, and ultimately educating others about pronouns. Include information about pronouns in orientations. Distribute pronouns buttons, educational materials, and other materials to create visibility within your organization for the respect of pronouns. A basket of buttons at your reception desk can make a big difference. Invite everyone to include their pronouns in their email signatures. Make it easy and include it in any signature templates that your organization typically provides. Provide a place in personnel records and/or student records for people to list and easily update their own pronouns, so pronouns could be displayed when you generate staff lists or student rosters. Invite people to include their pronouns on bylines for articles or publications they write, and invite people to include their pronouns in their biographies or staff directory listings. Invite people to include their pronouns on any name badges, and door or cubicle placards alongside where a person’s name appears. In all of the above examples, make sharing pronouns easy by including pronouns in drop-downs and fill-ins on order forms, templates, requests, etc., so that someone does not have to specially request to add their pronouns and instead is being encouraged and supported in sharing their pronouns. For example, you might provide options such as: choosing not to share pronouns, no pronouns- just use my name, any pronouns, he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs, ze/zir/zirs, or a custom fill-in option.

What else can I do?

International Pronouns Day was conceived of as one entry point to humanize trans, gender nonconforming, and intersex people, and to open up discussion. Our communities are internally diverse, and the ways in which we are marginalized and oppressed can be multiple.

So, beyond working on pronouns, many people interested in our campaign might also want to address issues such as violence against Black trans women and trans, nonbinary, and intersex people, especially people of color and indigenous folks, more broadly. You may want to talk more about access to safe and inclusive restrooms. You may want to discuss incarceration, immigrant detention, and criminalization of our communities. You may want to look at healthcare and wellness more broadly, ensuring bodily autonomy for intersex people and ending so-called “conversion” therapy programs that really just amount to torture.

There are many issues that affect our communities, and pronouns are just one entry point, and one way that people can act as allies by educating themselves and taking on some of the labor of moving this work forward in their organizations. Pronouns are also a bridge. Calling someone by their name and pronouns is basic to opening up conversations and empowerment for those who have been marginalized by assumptions, erasure, and cultural and direct violence. So, before the next International Pronouns Day, what progress can you and your organization make?