Foothills Style Guide

This is an in-process and imperfect guide 

Communicating About Gender

Always write in ways that affirm people’s self-identified gender, center inclusion, and avoid language rooted in assumption, erasure, or biological essentialism.

Core Commitments

• Respect self-identification.
  Use the name, pronouns, and identity terms people choose for themselves—always.

• Center inclusion, not explanation.
  Write with the assumption that trans and nonbinary people belong, not as if their inclusion needs justification.
  

• Use plain language that affirms dignity, not technical jargon.

✅ DO

• Say “trans and nonbinary people” when referring to all who are not cisgender.

• Use “they” as a singular pronoun when gender is unknown or when someone uses they/them.

• Use phrases like:

  • “All who identify as…”

  • “People of all genders”

  • “Trans, cis, and nonbinary people alike”

• Say “sex assigned at birth” instead of “biological sex.”

• Refer to reproductive health using “people who can get pregnant” rather than “women,” when gender diversity is relevant.

❌ DON’T

• Don’t say “transgenders,” “the transgendered,” or “preferred pronouns.”
  Say: “transgender people” and “pronouns.”

• Don’t refer to someone’s past name or gender without consent.
  That includes “before they transitioned” or “used to be a woman.”

• Don’t say “born a man/woman,” “biological male/female,” or “opposite sex.”

• Don’t write “women and trans women.”
  Say: “all women, including trans women.”