No, “preferred pronouns” are not a human right. A Canadian human rights tribunal thinks they are though.

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favor of Jessie Nelson, a British Columbia restaurant server who is biologically female but identifies as nonbinary. Nelson, who asked colleagues to use “they” and “them” pronouns, was repeatedly called “she” and “her” by former colleague Brian Gobelle, who also called Nelson nicknames such as “sweetheart,” “honey,” and “pinky,” the tribunal’s ruling said. After Nelson unsuccessfully asked Gobelle to stop, the employee went to management, who declined to intervene right away, the court said. Nelson and Gobelle then got into a heated discussion about the issue, and Nelson was fired four days later for coming on “too strong and too fast” and being too “militant.”

Ok there’s more than one issue here. The male colleague should definitely not have been calling Nelson unwanted sexist nicknames, and management should have immediately told him to stop. If she then tried to tell him to stop and then got fired for it, that’s highly unfair.

But the “pronouns” are another story. She shouldn’t be ordering fellow employees to remember not to use the pronouns that come naturally, but instead ones that don’t, because that’s a lot of mental effort for a fundamentally stupid enterprise. People shouldn’t take their priceless bespoke identities to work.

“Using correct pronouns communicates that we see and respect a person for who they are,” Devyn Cousineau, a member of the tribunal, wrote in the 42-page ruling. 

One, no it doesn’t, but two, since when is that something we have to do on the job? Jobs aren’t about “seeing people for who they are,” they’re about doing the job. It all sounds so very The Office. Imagine if Michael had had pronouns to mess around with; he could have spent all day every day creating drama about them.

“Especially for trans, non-binary, or other non-cisgender people, using the correct pronouns validates and affirms they are a person equally deserving of respect and dignity.”

Again, not what people go to work for, but also – no actually it doesn’t. Using the “correct” i.e. incorrect pronouns for Certain Special People in fact betrays that they have no dignity. People who carry on about “their” pronouns are childish and laughable. Who doesn’t know that? It’s all just an elaborate pretense, this “validation” nonsense. Less “Joe forgot their invoice” and more “Oh grow up” would be the way to go.

Nelson felt it was important to bring the fight for equality for all transgender and nonbinary people facing discrimination, according to a statement provided during the testimony portion of the tribunal.

It’s not [bad or unlawful] discrimination to call a woman “her.”

“I am here today in bringing this forward because it is important for me, as a trans person, to have my existence respected. I’m a human being with a beating heart and a desire to be seen and valued and heard in the world,” Nelson testified.

Then do something worth seeing and valuing and hearing. Having Special Pronouns is not it.

The tribunal also ordered the restaurant to implement a pronoun policy.

They’ll need an eyeroll policy with that.

Other government entities have taken steps toward promoting gender-neutral policies, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently urging “pregnant people” to get vaccinated against COVID-19…

Yes and that’s a bad thing. These Special Flowers in search of Recognition and Validation are shooting the legs out from under feminism, but they’re too stupid and too self-obsessed to realize it. They’re poisonous.