The Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity’s International Pronouns Day event Wednesday promoted the normalization of sharing and using individuals’ preferred pronouns.

By providing pins with different pronouns as well as educational material, the GSD Center hoped to start conversations about pronoun usage and bring awareness to the issue.

Nora Kollar, graduate assistant at the GSD Center and organizer of the Pronouns Day event, said pronouns are important to everyone, including herself.

“It’s important to me because I think having awareness for everything is important,” Kollar said. “Just being out here and casually saying to everyone, ‘Do you want to display your pronouns? It doesn’t matter who you are. Do you want to display your pronouns?’”

The various pronoun pins on the table allowed Kollar to tell others about pronouns that may not be as well known.

“Ze/zir/zirs is another version of gender-neutral pronouns, like they/them,” Kollar said. “You see it more with older generations, but people still use it today and we want to bring awareness to all people.”

In addition to the pronoun pins, pronoun cards were presented at the table. Grace Osborn, a junior biology student and vice president of EIU Pride, explained the pronoun cards in more depth.

“We have pronoun cards that have a lot of different not-as-well-known pronouns on them with how to use them,” Osborn said. “It has ways that you can tailor it to each of your sentences and know how to use them.”

Many students stopped by the table to pick up a pronoun pin and show their support for International Pronoun Day.

Sophomore psychology major Carly Nau said it is crucial to include everyone on a diverse campus.

“I think it’s really important for the school to be including all of their students and make everyone feel welcome and make it feel like home,” Nau said.

Nau said she would like to see more events like the Pronoun Day event on campus.

“I think it’s a really good idea, and it should be continued to be done because it shows how open the school is,” Nau said.

Sophomore theatre major Aidan Collins said he appreciates seeing education about the topic on Eastern’s campus.

“I don’t feel like very many people know that it’s today, and I’m glad that we’re actually representing it and showing it so that everyone knows that it’s here,” Collins said.

Bri Thompson, a freshman graphic design major, said everyone should normalize pronouns.

“I try to normalize pronouns so people won’t be so off about it,” Thompson said. “Some people don’t understand, like, ‘Oh, why do you put your pronouns?’ I think it’s just to make more people feel comfortable.”

Isabella Gullotta, freshman art education major, said she agrees with Thompson.

“As someone who, I would say, people look at and kind of are confused, like, ‘I don’t know if that’s a they/them, she/her,’ I think it’s good to have the clarification as she/her, and I can say that with pride,” Gullotta said. “We definitely need to normalize it.”

Elizabeth Taylor and Heather Vosburgh can be reached at 581-2812 or at dennewsdesk@gmail.com.