Queensland School Becomes First In The State To Have Student Pronoun Badges

A Queensland school has announced plans to trial having students wear pronoun badges if they want to express their gender identity.

Pronouns can be a tricky arena to navigate if you're not aware of how one person identifies.

Gender identity isn't as clear cut as it was a few decades ago as more people now identify as gender neutral or gender fluid.

To make this situation much more easily navigable, Redcliffe High School just north of the Brisbane metro area has introduced a badge system.

Students have the option of wearing a brightly coloured badge that says He/Him, She/Her or They/Them.

The school isn't commenting on the move, however shared a post on its Facebook page that celebrated the decision to promote gender identity in many forms.

"Redcliffe SHS Lgbtiq+ group began their trial of 'pronoun badges'," it wrote.

"Pronoun badges are as simple as they sound: they're badges with different pronouns on.

"However, their purpose is to display to everyone what those who are wearing them define themselves as. They're also so that people know what to refer to the wearer as."

It's not required for students who identity differently to wear a badge, nor is it a requirement for cisgendered students to wear ones. It's simply for people who want their pronouns to be known.

The reaction on social media has been massive and full of support.

Loads of people backed the simple method to allow students to feel more included and avoid instances were they were misgendered.

One person wrote: "My mother attended this school back in '83. Proud to see this school acknowledge and educate these young adults about self expression/identity."

Another added: "Came here specifically to say how awesome this is. I'm a bi trans man, and didn't even know who I was at school - I'm sure something like this would have helped me figure things out earlier. You are saving lives."

A third supported it, saying: "Thank you for paving the way for more schools to hopefully start something similar."

The pronoun badges have the support of the school's parents and citizens group, with P&C president Carlos Ortega telling News Corp it will be interesting to see how the trial plays out.

"At the end of the day our priority is to take care of the students and nothing else," Mr Ortega said.

"We have to have respect for each other regardless of sex, religion or any other background.

"Each person's interpretations about it can be their own but the P & C does respect it. The reality is society is changing and everyone has to be respectful of everyone."

Featured Image Credit: Queensland Government

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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