James-Lee shares their pronouns

This February we are celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month, and as we celebrate how far we have come we also continue to raise awareness and one key aspect of that is identity. In order to prevent being misgendered, members of the LGBTQ+ community may not adhere to conventional gender standards and opt to use alternative pronouns.

We have asked staff to share their lived experiences and pronouns with us to promote awareness within the Trust.

An honest and unedited blog entry from James-Lee Campbell, Project Manager

“I'm a 37 year old Gay man and my pronouns are They/Them/Theirs and I have coloured them with the yellow, purple and black colours in my email signature, which are commonly on the Gender non-conforming/ non-binary flag. I only started using these pronouns in the past 2 years and I still don't correct people as much as I should because I worry about them asking why I identify as they/them and try to avoid the microaggression caused by having the responsibility of educating someone on something I'm still not even sure of in my journey. I thought my LGBTQIA+ journey was over when I came out at 14 but, lo and behold I was wrong.

I know I am male, but I also know that I'm not a cis-gendered male. I don't relate to the societal expectations men are expected to do. I feel uncomfortable in a suit - clothing which, for centuries has depicted heteronormative men in powerful positions; but I do feel comfortable in a shirt. It was then I realised that I didn't feel comfortable conforming with the societal expectancies of what a 'man' should be.

It's encouraging to see an encouragement to include pronouns on the Hub. It's important, not just for visibility but it creates a supportive and welcoming environment for the gender-expansive community within CLCH. This will facilitate a welcoming environment and express the trust’s allyship. It's been wonderful seeing so many people adopt them into their signatures and this will really help.

You don't have to colour them in the rainbow as pronouns are not exclusively owned by the LGBTQIA+ community; pronouns in your signature show those people who are gender-expansive, that this is a safe and welcoming space. The world is changing and along with it the acceptance of non-cisgendered identities with it; but there is still negativity, intolerance and discrimination in the world for the LGBTQIA+ community, in particular towards the T.”

Further reading

Read more about pronouns on MyPronouns.org.

You can learn more about gender on genderbread.org and transstudent.org/gender