A teenager has sparked a social media debate after sharing a “very basic” trans etiquette after The Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page came out as a transgender man.
In an attempt to educate people on how to properly behave around trans people, 17-year-old queer creator Martin shared a detailed protocol.
“So in light of Elliot Page coming out, I’m gonna remind you guys of basic, Very Basic trans etiquette in this thread,” the teen wrote before listing a series of common offenses.
“You don’t use their birth name. Ever. That s*** is dead, you forget that it even existed. ‘She is now a he’ is the worst phrase, drop it.”
Martin also went on to urge people to correct those who use wrong pronouns and to avoid asking transgender individuals if they had or are planning on having gender reassignment surgeries.
“If you slip up on names and pronouns, that’s okay. Just quickly correct yourself and move on. Don’t make it a big deal, for God’s sake don’t make it a big deal,” Martin added.
“‘He, she, it, whatever’ is not the funny comment you think it is… Ask what you can do to support them… You don’t get a special prize for using the right name and pronouns, it’s basic respect. Don’t act like you’re doing them a favor.”
Concluding their thread, Martin urged people to “just be f****** respectful” to those around them.
After the post went viral and racked up hundreds of thousands of likes and shares, Martin also spoke out to DailyMail.com and told the publication that “the responses have been really varied,” whereas some people are genuinely interested in etiquettes surrounding trans people.
“I spent a lot of yesterday just answering questions the best that I could, as the whole point of the thread was to help educate,” they told the outlet.
“There were also unfortunately a lot of transphobes in the replies, however. I was replying to them at first, but then just realized if I couldn’t educate them to be better then they weren’t worth my time.”
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