Bill Walsh, a copy editor on The Washington Post, recently changed the Post style guide to accept “they” as a singular pronoun. He cites it as “the only sensible solution to English’s lack of a gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronoun.” And in early January, the American Dialect Society voted “they” as the 2015 Word of the Year.

Using “they” in the singular form is neither new nor uncommon. Imagine that you are in a car accident. You would not exclaim, “He or she just hit me!” but rather, “They just hit me!” If you find a lost jacket in the library, you would say that someone lost their jacket; if someone asks you a question, you tell them the answer. In day to day life, everyone has their own way of doing it (see what I mean?).

Aside from grammatical ease, the singular “they” is also increasingly used as a pronoun for people who identify outside the gender binary. The American Dialect Society used this reason to justify “they” as its word of the year: to celebrate an old word used in a new way to reject the traditional he/she gender binary. The society, which is comprised of linguists, etymologists, historians, writers, and editors, emphasized that "language change is normal, ongoing, and entertaining.”

The increasing acceptance of the singular “they” also raises awareness that gender is something you do, not something you are. Gender is a social construct that we adapt to from a young age, learned from a myriad of interactions and expectations on a daily basis. There is nothing innate about being referred to as “he” or “she” or wearing gendered clothing, but society has deemed certain modes of expression more correct than others. In the same way that the gender binary is created, so are people deciding to “do” gender differently, identifying outside the binary and using alternate pronouns like “they.”

The acceptance of the singular “they” is a first step for greater recognition of genderqueer identities and pronouns. The change to the Post style guide means that people who are uncomfortable identifying in the gender binary will not feel invalidated or ignored by incorrect pronouns. Of course, there are still limitations. Pronouns like zie/zir/zis or ne/nir/nirs are not likely to be used regularly in newspapers, but “they” is a start.

Bill Walsh, the Post copy editor, does not even think that readers will notice the new pronoun policy. This is largely due to its existing prevalence in daily conversation for grammatical ease, and in terms of its use as a gender-neutral pronoun, “allowing they for a gender-nonconforming person is a no-brainer.” Or so they say.