The pronoun wars have entered their next phase, and this time, the battlefield is federal email signatures. Because of a new Trump administration directive, government employees were told to scrub all gender identity references from official materials, including those ever-controversial “he/him” and “she/her” sign-offs.
While federal employees scrambled to comply with Trump’s order by last Friday, the question remains: Are pronoun declarations on the way out nationwide? In Michigan, pronoun tags seem to be relegated to places like Planned Parenthood, advocacy groups and colleges and universities where they still think people care what gender they identify with.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson – arguably the most high-profile Democratic women in Michigan – do not currently display their pronouns on their X accounts. For all the talk about inclusivity and gender identity, Michigan’s most powerful female officials aren’t currently leading by example on this issue. Even top Whitmer administration officials have left their pronouns in the dust, with their gender identities not appearing on the profiles of their social media accounts.
Although Governor Whitmer’s administration has promoted inclusivity efforts, and some departments have encouraged employees to list pronouns to foster a more inclusive workplace, not all employees participate, and there is no statewide mandate forcing workers to use pronouns in emails.
