Discussion: Welcome to California

California's always at the cutting edge of social trends, and it looks like you've just found one :-).

Always impressed by the local climatic differences in San Francisco - it's far from unheard of in summer for it to be 15 at the ocean and 40+ in Oakland.

I get the impression it's less about that specific person, and more supporting the concept that people should be able to choose their own pronouns regardless of how they might present - ie. that you shouldn't assume a pronoun just based on presentation.

It's a bit of a Thing on Twitter, I haven't seen it in any other spaces though.

Must admit I have very little insight into what it's like to be someone for whom non-binary gender is a personal reality! The Academy does seem to be fairly progressive; its gift shop sells rainbow t-shirts featuring same-sex-attracted penguins (June is Pride Month in SF).

One of the ways Pride Month has been represented is by various people and companies adding a rainbow to their Twitter feed. When ExxonMobil did it a number of people were unkind enough to suggest that this is also an excellent representation of what an oil spill looks like.

Is the penguin thing a byproduct of Parks and Wildlife?

Including pronouns in your introduction / email signature / nametag is becoming standard practice in the (perhaps non-typical) circles I find myself in here in MA. It's done both to let people know that you will honor their pronoun preferences, but also to make it so that people who feel they need to provide their pronouns aren't doing anything different from everybody else. There are also a fair number of people who prefer they/them, and that is certainly not possible to figure out from looking at someone.

As someone who gets "sir" or "Mr." a fair amount on the phone, and sometimes in person, I think I will appreciate more often giving people a head's up before we have to have that awkward correction.

Noticed I was listed as Mrs on the paperwork for the hotel I’ve just checked into.

Same-sex penguin couples are well documented: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/1...

We have a delightful children's book about a gay penguin couple: And Tango Makes Three

I think that book may have been for sale in the gift shop :)
(Certainly I found myself thinking that the Academy would not be a comfortable place for creationists and climate-change deniers to visit.)

I suspect both species would be rare in that part of the world; in San Francisco, as in New York, the Trump vote was in single digits.

If only single digit meant ONE this time.