August 31, 2016: The day I fully came on board with singular "they"

For several months, I have fully embraced singular "they" when others requested it. I also used it in certain writings where I specifically wished to avoid a gender-specific pronoun. You can see it in action in my article in Colorado Lawyer about transgender discrimination law.

I have long been aware that my queer/progressive/woke/anti-racist identity conflicts with my grammar nerd. I was always good with language, and my excellent grammar became a way for me to distinguish myself. As important to my identity as my social justice activist is my mastery of the white man's English.

Even now, while I recognize that a rigid, prescriptivist take on grammar is oppressive as fuck, I'm also not OK with language anarchy. I love language and I think it deserves respect - I've analogized the regular use of textspeak, for example, to using a designer dress as an apron. Or if “designer dress” has no meaning for you, just substitute a garment that you consider important and valuable. Perhaps a religious garment. Now imagine it being used solely to keep polenta spooge off someone's clothing. 

Developments in Federal Bathroom Law

Introduction and Disclaimer

Restrooms are only one part of the discussion. I believe the root of many of society’s problems is our obsession with genitalia; that is, in using genitalia to assign “male” and “female” and then assuming that those assignments are relevant and useful ways to socially classify people. This has been something that courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have assumed since their inception. The only change since then is to what extent we classify and regulate. We no longer tolerate “but she’s female” as a reason to deny women law licenses or prohibit them from working as bartenders; indeed, it seems ridiculous to do so in 2016. Yet it remains the case that it is typically taken for granted that a gender-inclusive educational facility requires separate living accommodations for men and women.

Against the binary: Athletics and Chris Mosier

The Olympics are on right now, and I am enjoying the hell out of them. Women’s rugby is in the Olympics for the first time ever; men’s for the first time since 1924. The athletes are so talented and their bodies are works of art. And gender has a spot in the phenomenon, in ways both celebrating how far we’ve come and exposing how much there is still left to do.

On the celebration side, we have Chris Mosier, the first openly trans athlete to make TeamUSA.