In celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity (OSID) and Thomas Tredway Library celebrated International Pronoun Day on Oct. 16. Celebrated on the third Wednesday of October every year, International Pronoun Day recognizes that pronouns are basic to human identity and seeks to make respecting, sharing and educating about personal pronouns commonplace.
Garrett Traylor, a research and instruction librarian in the Thomas Tredway Library, held great excitement and commitment to working with OSID for the LGBTQ+ celebration. Traylor emphasized the importance of such an event.
“The first use of ‘they’ as a neutral pronoun, a singular pronoun, was around the 1300s,” Traylor said. “The long history of diverse pronoun usage challenges the misconception that the focus on pronouns is a recent phenomenon.”
Traylor said that when someone’s preferred pronouns don’t align with another’s expectations, it can create a feeling of not being seen or included. They also said that representation matters and making someone feel seen can make a huge difference.
Sam Wright, assistant director and LGBTQ+ coordinator in OSID, was extremely keen on making International Pronoun Day special. Wright ensured the event was fun by hosting a pronoun pin-making event where students could create personalized buttons to represent their identities. The event also included stress balls, candy and other goodies.
“Pronouns aren’t new, but a celebration of it is, and I think that shows how the world is moving towards a more inclusive place,” Wright said. “It brings awareness because we have noise around pronouns, which allows people to have discussions about pronouns. I don’t hope that every conversation that occurs at Pronoun Day is about pronouns, but of course, naturally, some will be about them.”
Senior Castra Pierre, outreach department head at the Tredway Library, expressed how much of a positive impact this event had on Augie students. Pierre said the event was intended to be light-hearted yet impactful, which she said was a success.
“Student organizations should take part in these events to make it more inclusive, bring diverse perspectives, and increase the reach of our efforts,” Pierre said. “Also, that helps [foster] a better sense of community and collaboration and also makes it more dynamic and engaging for everyone.”
Sophomore Isaac Loyo attended the International Pronoun Day event. Loyo expressed his admiration and advocacy for such events and said events that propel a sense of inclusion in the Augustana community are of the utmost importance.
“I think having a solid sense of diversity and acceptance of everybody that may come along here, even if they’re coming for just a visit, it shows how accepting and how nice the people are here at Augustana,” Loyo said.
To explore Tredway Library’s resources about the LGBTQ+ community, visit https://library.augustana.edu/lgbtqa.
