Los Angeles Valley College embraces International Pronoun Day
By Maxine Ibrahim, Staff Writer
The Rainbow Pride Center was inspired by multinational students to embrace International Pronoun Day and encouraged students of all backgrounds to ponder the social importance of pronoun usage.
At Valley College students gathered outside Unity Square to join the Rainbow Pride Center in celebrating International Pronoun Day. The event educated participants on social understanding of misgendering, using pronouns and handed out ice cream to students who chose to participate on Wednesday, October 18th.
“Our LGBTQIA+ students speak languages other than English so it’s important to represent, validate and affirm their identities,” said Natalie Guerrero (she/they), Coordinator for the Rainbow Pride Center. “We had Russian students who picked up the “they/them” pronoun in Russian, you should have seen their faces light up and the huge smile on their faces.”
Language is complex, and while some languages are more gendered, other languages have no gendered pronouns at all. This discrepancy was the event's focus, bringing awareness to speakers not directly impacted. To support this notion, pronoun pins reading “she/her/hers,” “he/him/his,” and “they/them/theirs” were created and distributed to students in different languages; English, Spanish, Russian, and Armenian to reflect the most spoken languages seen in the community.
Inspiration for the event came from non-English speaking individuals, and an awareness for people not directly impacted. Language is complex, and while some languages are more gendered, other languages have no gendered personal pronouns at all. To support this notion, pronoun pins reading “she/her/hers,” “he/him/his,” and “they/them/theirs” were created and distributed to students in different languages, such as English, Spanish, Russian and Armenian, to reflect the most spoken languages seen in the community.
A first-time event at LAVC, many people, especially younger English and Spanish speaking students, and an older Armenian generation showed up in attendance. The Rainbow Pride Center welcomed and answered questions.
“Me personally, I want people to be aware of it as a linguistic function,” said Rainbow Pride member, Siobhan Quille (she/her). “Pronouns are for everyone. It’s not a queer thing, everyone uses them in one way, shape or form. Without thinking about what the word means, they have kind of a misunderstanding about what it entails.”
International Pronoun Day began in 2018, and every year commemorates the third Wednesday of October. With free ice cream in hand, courtesy of the center, students sat together in the grass discussing their own experiences, thoughts on pronouns and events such as these.
“What makes me happy is that there are places for people like us, and for people who haven’t discovered a lot about themselves yet,” shared Valley student Melody Markle (she/he/they).