Facebook updated its gender profile and added "custom" option to let users pick their preferred sexuality.
After collaborating with several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights groups to expand choices further than male and female, the social networking site announced Thursday that it has decided to add a dozen of options in the gender dropdown list so users can fill-up gender questions on their profiles. There are about 50 terms to choose from, including agender, bigender, cis gender and gender queer.
National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling said that the addition of an assortment of choices proves that LGBT advocate groups are doing well in educating Americans about queer, the umbrella term encompassing all sexual and gender minorities.
She said in a blog post, "At a time in which transgender people still face high rates of bullying, disrespect, harassment, and violence, this welcome change is another step in the recognition of transgender and gender non-conforming people. As one of the most visited sites on the Internet, it's a significant sign of progress to have the realities of transgender and gender non-conforming people reflected on the platform."
Though the changes made by Facebook can be considered as a remarkable shift in the society's norms, there are still others who are uncertain about it.
In an interview, Carrie Davis of the LGBT Community Center in New York City said that choosing a gender other than male and female in a dropdown box isn't that easy as it may seem for trans people because some of them may still want to be referred to as male or female.
"I think the challenge here is that these words are loaded words," said Davis to the Washington Post. "So they may be accurate for some people and not accurate for others."
Still, an option is an option. Whatever sexual preference a user wants to select is up to them. The most important thing for now, which Mark Zuckerberg did fantastically, is to make sexual minority groups feel accepted and welcomed in the society.
