Thunder Bay, ON

Re: folx, June, p. 14.

I thought 2SLGBTQIA+ folx was a typo but learned that, a variation on the word folks, folx is meant to be a gender-neutral way to refer to members of or signal identity in the LGBTQ community.

This is a tough one for many seniors because being a boy or a girl was always obvious until it wasn’t and pronouns took on a whole new understanding. So, I asked my grandchild to explain nonbinary and the use of pronouns.

They began with, “Nonbinary is an umbrella term for any gender identity that isn’t 100% male or female. There are a lot of more specific identities in the nonbinary spectrum. And the last one is Agender, i.e. not having a gender. Personally, I am agender and use they/them pronouns.”

That’s when I realized that I knew very little; I understood nothing at all. In my generation, rational thought often leads to debate and sadly sometimes closed minds. As seniors—parents, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunts, some of us may eventually understand what’s going on in a young person’s life.

But it is their choice to follow their path and our charge to support them along that journey. With God’s help, love will transcend the challenges of gender identities and sexual orientations.—Eldon Oja, Thunder Bay, ON