Editing Singular they (section)

====Use for specific, known people, including non-binary people====
Known individuals may be referred to as ''they'' if the individual's gender is unknown to the speaker.{{sfn|Walsh|2015}}{{sfn|Teich|2012|p=12}}

A known individual may also be referred to as ''they'' if the individual is [[Non-binary gender|non-binary or genderqueer]] and considers ''they'' and derivatives as appropriate pronouns.{{sfn|Walsh|2015}}{{sfn|Teich|2012|p=12}} Several social media applications permit account holders to choose to identify their gender using one of a variety of non-binary or genderqueer options,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/02/21/gender_facebook_now_has_56_categories_to_choose_from_including_cisgender.html |title=Confused by All the New Facebook Genders? Here's What They Mean |last=Weber |first=Peter |date=21 February 2014 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |issn=1091-2339 |access-date=2016-05-14 |archive-date=7 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507153634/http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/02/21/gender_facebook_now_has_56_categories_to_choose_from_including_cisgender.html |url-status=live }}</ref> such as ''[[Gender fluidity|genderfluid]]'', ''[[agender]]'', or ''[[bigender]]'', and to designate pronouns, including ''they''/''them'', which they wish to be used when referring to them.{{sfn|CNN|2014}} Explicitly designating one's pronouns as ''they''/''them'' increases the chance that people will interpret "they" as singular.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Arnold|first1=Jennifer E.|last2=Mayo|first2=Heather|last3=Dong|first3=Lisa|title=My pronouns are they/them: Talking about pronouns changes how pronouns are understood|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin and Review|date=2021|volume=28|issue=5|pages=1688–1697|doi=10.3758/s13423-021-01905-0|pmid=33945124|pmc=8094985|url=https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-01905-0|access-date=17 June 2021|archive-date=13 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213105918/https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-021-01905-0|url-status=live}}</ref> Though "singular ''they''" has long been used with antecedents such as ''everybody'' or generic persons of unknown gender, this use, which may be chosen by an individual, is recent.{{sfn|Abadi |2016}} The earliest recorded usage of this sense documented by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' is in a tweet from 2009;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |dictionary=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |title=they |url=https://oed.com/view/Entry/200700#eid1288185480 |access-date=16 June 2021 |edition=Online |date=June 2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608131137/https://oed.com/view/Entry/200700#eid1288185480 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |user=thebutchcaucus |number=2584598369 |date=11 July 2009 |title=RT @pieskiis: @FireboltX What about they/them/theirs? #genderqueer #pronouns |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010090725/https://twitter.com/thebutchcaucus/status/2584598369 |archive-date=10 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> the journal ''[[American Speech]]'' documents an example from 2008 in an article in the journal ''[[Women's Studies Quarterly]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zimmer|first1=Ben|last2=Solomon|first2=Jane|last3=Carson|first3=Charles E.|title=Among the New Words|journal=American Speech|volume=91|issue=2|date=2016|pages=200–225|doi=10.1215/00031283-3633118|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/91/2/200/6145/Among-the-New-Words|access-date=16 June 2021|archive-date=17 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717084548/https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/91/2/200/6145/Among-the-New-Words|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2020, singular ''they'' is the most popular pronoun set used by non-binary people. Approximately 80% consider it appropriate for themselves.<ref name="gendercensus2020">{{cite web |title=Gender Census 2020: Worldwide Report |url=https://gendercensus.com/results/2020-worldwide/ |website=Gender Census |access-date=10 November 2020 |date=7 November 2020 |archive-date=10 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110230452/https://gendercensus.com/results/2020-worldwide/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hekanaho2020">{{cite thesis |last=Hekanaho |first=Laura |date=8 December 2020 |title=Generic and Nonbinary Pronouns: Usage, Acceptability and Attitudes |type=PhD |publisher=University of Helsinki |isbn=9789515168313 |url=https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/321581/hekanaho_laura_dissertation_2020.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=7 March 2021 |page=221 |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307171934/https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/321581/hekanaho_laura_dissertation_2020.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref>

The singular ''they'' in the meaning "gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier"{{sfn|Steinmetz|2016}} was chosen by the [[American Dialect Society]] as their "Word of the Year" for 2015.{{sfn|Abadi|2016}} In 2016, the American Dialect Society wrote:

{{Blockquote|text="While editors have increasingly moved to accepting singular they when used in a generic fashion, voters in the Word of the Year proceedings singled out its newer usage as an identifier for someone who may identify as non-binary in gender terms."{{sfn|American Dialect Society|2016}}}}
The vote followed the previous year's approval of this use by ''[[The Washington Post]]'' style guide, when [[Bill Walsh (author)|Bill Walsh]], the ''Post''{{'}}s copy editor, said that the singular ''they'' is "the only sensible solution to English's lack of a gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronoun".{{sfn|Guo|2016}}

In 2019, the non-binary ''they'' was added to [[Merriam-Webster]]'s dictionary.<ref name="MW">{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they|title=they|website=Merriam-Webster|access-date=19 September 2019|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629021839/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NBC">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/merriam-webster-adds-nonbinary-they-pronoun-dictionary-n1055976 |title=Merriam-Webster adds nonbinary 'they' pronoun to dictionary |website=NBC News |date=18 September 2019 |access-date=2019-09-19 |archive-date=19 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919071632/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/merriam-webster-adds-nonbinary-they-pronoun-dictionary-n1055976 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CNN">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/us/merriam-webster-nonbinary-pronoun-they-trnd/index.html |title=Merriam-Webster adds the nonbinary pronoun 'they' to its dictionary |first=Kendall |last=Trammell |date=2019-09-18 |website=CNN |access-date=2019-09-19 |archive-date=19 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919134142/https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/us/merriam-webster-nonbinary-pronoun-they-trnd/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first non-binary main character on North American television appeared on the [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] drama series [[Billions (TV series)|''Billions'']] in 2017, with [[Asia Kate Dillon]] playing Taylor Mason.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hibberd |first=James |title='Billions' Premiere Introduces TV's First Gender Non-Binary Character |url=https://ew.com/tv/2017/02/19/billions-non-binary-asia-kate-dillon/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=September 17, 2017 |date=February 19, 2017 |archive-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428141725/https://ew.com/tv/2017/02/19/billions-non-binary-asia-kate-dillon/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Masters |first=Jeffrey |title=Asia Kate Dillon Talks Discovering the Word Non-Binary: 'I Cried' |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/asia-kate-dillon-talks-discovering-the-word-non-binary_us_58ef1685e4b0156697224c7a |work=[[Huffington Post]] |access-date=September 17, 2017 |date=April 13, 2017 |archive-date=5 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205012120/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/asia-kate-dillon-talks-discovering-the-word-non-binary_us_58ef1685e4b0156697224c7a |url-status=live }}</ref> Both actor and character use singular ''they''.