A recently passed bill aims to protect teachers from negative repercussions, should they fail to address a transgender student by the exact pronoun preferred by that particular student.

Teachers should not be afraid of being penalised in any form if they fail to address students by the pronoun of their choice. This is the objective of a draft bill presented in Arkansas recently.

In accordance with the regulation, teachers at public schools will not be required to call students by any preferred pronouns if it is inconsistent with the students biological gender. Teachers who face  „adverse action” for calling a student by the wrong name or pronoun can file a legal claim for relief.

Republican lawmaker Mary Bentley, the sponsor of the bill, argues that the legislation is necessary to protect teachers who may be sued for not using certain pronouns preferred by their transgender students.

Ms Bentley is concerned that, should some students decide to identify as animals, it may lead to further problems in the future.

However, Democrats in Arkansas have assumed a different stance. The bill is „emboldening teachers who are intentionally misgendering students and therefore are intentionally severing their relationship,” representative Megan Godfrey said. Another lawmaker, Fred Love, argued that „calling a student by a name other than what they prefer is one of the most disrespectful things”.

The bill has passed the House and will shortly go before the Senate. 

Arkansas saw the introduction of another new legislation that runs counter to the tenets of gender ideology. The new, recently adopted bill bars doctors from assisting young people aged below 18 in transitioning. They may not be prescribed hormone therapy, puberty blockers, or have gender reassignment surgeries performed on them. With this move, Arkansas became the first state in the US to regulate the issue.

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Other regions have also outright rejected plans to adopt gender-neutral language. In the UK, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council have debated a motion about the use of gender-neutral pronouns, eventually voting against the proposal. According to the decision, they will not drop masculine and feminine terms – such as chairman, Mr or Mrs – in favour of „chair,” or „Mx”.

The move was praised by locals, with one calling the decision a bit of common sense! The motion had been proposed by councillor L.J. Evans, who said the terms are „unnecessary and inaccurate” and „reinforce historic gender stereotypes.”

Meanwhile, the list of alternate pronouns have been steadily increasing over recent years. Using neutral terms for those who consider themselves neither male, nor female is no longer enough. The latest pronouns are called neo-pronouns, as New York Times reports.

Withn the framework of the new trend, broadly spreading in the online space, neopronouns can be words created to serve as pronouns without expressing gender, like ze/zir or hir, but they can also be so-called „noun-self pronouns,” where a pre-existing word is drafted into use as a pronoun. These can refer to animals or even fantasy characters; so if someone wants to identify as a kitten, their pronouns can be „kitten/kittenself,” while those identifying as a fairy or fae can use the words „fae/faer/faeself.”