Addressing the trans community with dignity and respect | Penn Current

It’s all too often that Amy Sollitti’s gender is inaccurately assumed.

“It happens pretty much every day,” the Penn biology major says.

Identifying as neither male nor female, also known as non-binary, Sollitti, co-chair of Penn Non-Cis, prefers gender-neutral pronouns “ze,” “hir,” and “hirs.”

“Even when I approach people and tell them what my pronouns are, they sometimes aren’t receptive or they don’t follow through, using ‘she,’ ‘her,’ and ‘hers’ anyway,” ze says. “Or, they are accustomed to calling everyone ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister’ for instance. It happens so often that, for the past year, I just haven’t been bothering as much.”

Battling these particular types of issues, where people—whether transgender, gender non-conforming, or non-cisgender—aren’t honored for being true to themselves, are at the root of Penn’s LGBT Center’s ongoing “Pronouns Matter” campaign, which started in October during LGBT History Month.