Nonbinary student votes for Haley despite remarks disparaging ‘gender pronoun classes’
By Zoe Bell, American University
DERRY, New Hampshire — Koda Cyr, a nonbinary student at Manchester Community College in New Hampshire, voted for Nikki Haley despite the former U.N. Ambassador’s negative remarks about ‘gender pronoun’ classes.
At a Jan. 20 rally in Nashua, Haley mentioned getting rid of gender-related classes in the military, referring to the gender identity and gender expression training that was made mandatory for members of the Army in September 2022.
Cyr, 20, said although they voted for Haley in order to prevent a second Donald Trump presidency, they disagree with a majority of Haley’s policies.
“I don’t agree with her because pronouns are literally just a basic thing,” Cyr said after casting their ballot at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, N.H. “It doesn’t hurt anyone to go by preferred pronouns.”
In a post on X in December, Haley claimed that the United States is down 25 percent in military recruitment due to a focus on “all the wrong things.”
“Stop making them take gender pronoun classes. We have to be mission focused,” her tweet read.
The pronoun “classes” Haley refers to is instruction including training and education on people with gender dysphoria and the Army policies related to it, according to the Army’s website. The training, which began in March 2022, trains officers on when to offer subordinates gender-affirming surgery.
The Navy also trained its members to “create a safe space” by using proper pronouns and inclusive language in an instructional video, filmed in June 2021 and posted online in May 2022, according to American Military News.
“Using the right pronouns is a really simple way to affirm someone’s identity,” Jony Rozon, an engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Rhode Island, said in the video. “It is a signal of acceptance and respect.”
Cyr said that gender-neutral pronouns and neopronouns, a category of third-person pronouns, predate the singular use of the words “I” and “me” in the English language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the singular “they” has been traced back to 1375, where it appears in a medieval romantic poem to refer to an unnamed person.
“People [are] saying it’s a new thing and doesn’t make sense, but it’s been around forever,” Cyr said of neopronouns and gender-neutral pronouns.
Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips, who has talked publicly about having a gay daughter, spoke in support of the LGBTQ+ community at a Jan. 21 rally in Rochester, N.H. Cyr said they think Phillips does not have a chance in the primary: “I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never heard his name before.”
“Honestly, with the people who we have running currently in this current election period, I don't feel like there's anyone who really cares about LGBT issues,” Cyr said. “I don't think any of them are really affected. If anything, I feel like they just want to keep the status quo and not really rock the boat, then there are the ones who obviously want to change it for the worse.”