[tamasnet]

If you're introduced to one William Gates and he says "call me Bill", would you respect that?

I get that using "they/them" requires a bit more mental gymnastics, at least in languages with gendered pronouns. However it is still a grammatically correct use of the language, just one we're not used to.

I approach this from a perspective of compassion. If someone has made the (potentially difficult) decision to live with a non-gendered identity, knowing the snark and ostracism they are likely to face for doing so, they the least I can do is respect that decision by making this one trivial grammatical adjustment.

[sgt]

That's kind of you. I still feel that this is something that is being forced on the rest of us, whether we like it or not. If we don't comply (and we really don't have to), then the army of twitter extremists come down on you hard. It's a privilege to be treated with extra compassion and care, not a right.

[rbanffy]

> I get that using "they/them" requires a bit more mental gymnastics

For us. We are the first doing it. Our children and grandchildren will accept that naturally. As we should.

[themaninthedark]

The difference is, if I choose to call him; Mr. Gates, Billy, Will or Willy, I will not be ostracized, have people calling my work to get me fired and have newspapers write smear columns about me. At most, William Gates will think that I am an asshole.

For some reason there is a group of people in the tech community who rather than try and develop tech and promote new and cool things think that it is better to try and police what others say and do. This is not helpful to the tech community because it makes people hesitant and reluctant to participate because they are worried they will cause offense and become ostracized.

To see this occurring in the tech community is particular sad as many of the people who work in the industry come from outlier social groups, people who were shunned and bullied because they were different. There is a particular irony in the push to make the space safe for everyone that the original people because they were excluded from other spaces must be pushed out. It is made even more ironic because often the same voices that say that tech needs to change to be more inclusive have negative things to say about colonization...