I'm in the them/they camp ("proper English grammar" be damned) unless someone requests to be referred to by a specific gender-neutral pronoun. At which point, it's their choice and referring to them by anything else is rude and disrespectful. If, for some reason, I absolutely MUST use a singular gender neutral pronoun to refer to a person, I like 'na' and 'nan.'
I WILL NOT use 'it,' though I've seen it proposed. 'It' is for houseplants and table lamps. Even my car is not an 'it' for the most part. And I really don't like ze/zie/hir, so I won't use them unless someone requests that I do. Ze/zie/hir seem so forced and there's something about them that I just don't like, even if I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it might be that thing siyahsaclikiz pointed out - it sounds like a bad, faked French accent.
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Date: 2009-11-28 07:30 am (UTC)I WILL NOT use 'it,' though I've seen it proposed. 'It' is for houseplants and table lamps. Even my car is not an 'it' for the most part. And I really don't like ze/zie/hir, so I won't use them unless someone requests that I do. Ze/zie/hir seem so forced and there's something about them that I just don't like, even if I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it might be that thing