Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
What should we use as gender-neutral pronouns for non-binary people?
Position2 of 3
We should use a new set of gender-neutral pronouns for non-binary persons
Argument2 of 2

A new gender-neutral pronoun would be more meaningful

Using something new would give those in the LGBTQ community a set of pronouns which they can lay claim to. It would be a point of pride to "own" a unique set of pronouns made specifically for the LGBTQ community.

The argument

Individuals within the LGBTQ community should be given the chance to create a new set of gender-neutral pronouns, or to make official use of the unique ones which have already been made. The argument is partly about authorship. A pronoun that a community has made for itself is not merely a functional label assigned from outside; it would give people a chance to "own" their gender identities and have something unique which they can be proud of, which is a different relationship to the language than being fitted into a word that already exists for another purpose. The raw material is already there. There are already a ton of options for new gender-neutral pronouns out there, including but not limited to ze/hir, fae/faer, ve/ver, and xe/xem. All of these are unique, and any of them would enrich the English language while also showing respect to those of a non-binary gender. That they were coined deliberately is an advantage rather than an awkwardness: each was built for exactly this use, so it carries no competing sense that a speaker has to work around. The practical case rests on the contrast with the alternative. Singular they/them is not a good choice because it would be too hard to adapt to grammatically, and changing the meaning of these words would only cause confusion for most people — a listener still has to determine, each time, whether a plural or a singular is intended. A new word has no such history to overturn, and learning one is a smaller demand than reworking a word everybody already uses. Therefore, creating a new set of pronouns would be the better option, as it would be far easier to adapt to something new.

Premises

[P1]Letting people create or adopt unique gender-neutral pronouns—like ze/hir, fae/faer, ve/ver or xe/xem—would let non-binary individuals "own" their gender identity and take pride in it while enriching the language. [P2] Singular they/them is harder to adapt to grammatically and changing its meaning would cause confusion, so a purpose-built new set would be easier to learn. [C] Therefore, because a new gender-neutral pronoun would be more meaningful, we should use a new set of gender-neutral pronouns for non-binary persons.

Counter-arguments

Singular they/them would be easier to adapt to than creating something new. Trying to introduce a new word into the English language would feel alien and people would balk at being forced to adapt to a foreign word. Singular they/them, on the other hand, already has a history of being used in a gender-neutral way; so to adopt it as a set of gender-neutral pronouns would feel more natural and be far easier to adapt to.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Using something new would be more difficult to adapt to than using singular they/them as it is already a familiar part of the English language.