Facebook announced Thursday plans to add fifty terms to the gender option on Facebook profiles. According to the Daily Beast, “The options will include androgynous, intersex, bi-gender, transsexual, and gender fluid.” Users will be able to choose up to ten options to define themselves on their profiles. 

Additionally, Facebook will let users choose their own gender pronoun. Instead of the traditional he/him and she/her, users now have the option to use the gender neutral them/their. For example, when Facebook reminds users to wish a friend a happy birthday, it will say, “‘Write on Joey’s wall for their birthday,’” instead of, “‘Write on Joey’s wall for his birthday.’” 

Facebook worked with LGBT activist groups to create the gender option list, and has also rolled out new privacy settings to let users choose who sees the gender portion of their profile. This new update is not the first time Facebook has expressed support for the LGBT community. The company added the “in a civil union” and the “in a domestic partnership” relationship status options three years ago. 

Read more on the gender changes at the Daily Beast and Tech Crunch. For a complete list of all fifty terms, see the Washington Post. 

 

Reach Executive Producer Sarah Geisler here. Follow her on Twitter here.