Friday, February 14, 2014

Facebook Adds Additional Gender Options

[Content note: trans bigotry]

Via USA Today, Facebook is "adding a customizable option with about 50 different terms people can use to identify their gender as well as three preferred pronoun choices: him, her or them."

Good.

Not everyone is happy that people are now able to more accurately describe themselves if they wish on Facebook. The article includes the following soundbite:
"Of course Facebook is entitled to manage its wildly popular site as it sees fit, but here is the bottom line: It's impossible to deny the biological reality that humanity is divided into two halves — male and female," said Jeff Johnston, an issues analyst for Focus on the Family, an influential national religious organization based in Denver, in an interview with the AP.
Now, Focus on the Family doesn't include staff information or qualifications on its website, so it's unclear with what expertise, if any, Jeff Johnston is speaking when making his pronouncements about gender. The article only notes that Focus on the Family is an "influential national religious organization," so maybe that's what makes Johnston a gender genius.

I guess the important thing is that the media always knows right where to go for a trusty Legitimate Other Side to any remotely positive advance for transgender, gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.

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