Pronouns, Presence, & Respect in the Marching Arts
Every year on the third Wednesday of October it is International Pronouns Day, a reminder that sharing and respecting people’s pronouns is more than a linguistic choice, it’s an act of dignity, recognition, and care. Pronouns.org explains that this day “seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace.”
Within MAASIN, many members are proudly a part of the LGBTQIA+ community and use a variety of pronouns and pronoun combinations. These pronouns are major part of each person’s identity, and when our community honors them, we practice the kind of respect we want to see in every marching ensemble.
The marching arts has long been a place of performance, discipline, and spectacle, but also of hierarchy, exclusion, and pressure. Many LGBTQ+ folks take part in this activity as performers, staff, educators, and mentors. Yet, in times when gender-affirming care and queer identities are under attack across the country, the marching arts must be a space that protects, not polices, identity.
When pronouns are respected, misgendering is corrected, and identity is affirmed, we lower one more barrier that often becomes one more weight for LGBTQ+ members to carry. For trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, every slip or mispronunciation can feel like erasure.
Acceptance in the marching arts is not optional, it’s essential for the longevity of the activity. In parts of society where queer people are under threat, the arts (and the marching arts in particular) have long been places of refuge, of expression, and of solidarity. If our activity cannot hold that standard, we fail many of our members.
We call on circuits, ensembles, and staff to embed pronoun education into trainings, rehearsals, and orientation materials to foster awareness and respect across all levels of the activity. Misgendering, even when unintentional, can be deeply harmful, and it is our shared responsibility to learn, correct, and build systems that minimize those errors. MAASIN remains committed to expanding and promoting our resources, including our Pronouns Guide, LGBTQ+ resource library, and future workshops and trainings, so that pronoun literacy becomes routine, not optional. If you haven’t already, please take time to explore our Pronouns Guide and full suite of LGBTQ+ resources linked here, use them, share them, adapt them, and request trainings for your staff or ensemble.
Especially now, in a world with growing hostility toward gender diversity, we must hold our activity to a higher standard. On this Pronouns Day, let us commit to building spaces where people are not only permitted to exist, but where they are valued, heard, and seen. The marching arts must not be a place where only certain identities feel safe, it must be a place where every participant can bring their full self without fear.