Pronoun Pins as Radical Welcome

In September, one of our hosts reported an interaction with a worshipper. She saw that a person was weeping and asked if they were ok. They replied that they were just so happy that we had pronoun pins – that it was amazing.

It’s just a button, right? But it's not that simple – a pronoun pin says something about who we are as a community and who is welcome & safe here.

We are in a moment of cultural shift, learning to recognize what so many people already knew – that to be free to self-identify one’s gender is fundamentally important to how a person operates in the world.

For most of us, our expression matches the sex that we were assigned at birth (this is called being cisgender). But for many, the sex they were assigned at birth does not match their gender – and for some, it is important to be able to share pronouns so that others understand more about them and how to interact with them.

Did you know that 42% of lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, two-spirit, and other genderqueer (LGBTQIA2+) people have seriously considered suicide? That number reduces by about half when people are affirmed by those around them in their sexuality and/or gender.

At Trinity, we seek to be a place that is radically hospitable, and a fundamental part of that is to invite and celebrate people who come as they are.