A major Victorian government department is promoting the first Wednesday of every month as ‘They Day,’ according to The Australian. The department is asking its 10,000 employees to avoid using “gendered” language and instead refer to others using neutral pronouns like “they” or “them.”

A memo emailed to staff said, ‘They Day’ is promoted as a “new recurring calendar event” that aims to raise awareness of “gendered pronouns.” “Non-binary identities are just as valid as binary gender identities… Names don’t always correspond to a person’s gender. There may be gaps between a person’s gender identity and your perception of the persons. Saying ‘they’ is more flowing and inclusive than saying ‘he’ or ‘she.'”

Victoria’s Opposition spokesman Tim Smith slammed the ‘They Day’ initiative accusing the Andrews government of being “obsessed with political correctness.” “The Department of Health needs to spend more time on running hospitals and less time on gendered pronouns,” he added.

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