Steve’s main concern appears to be the proliferation of new terms and pronouns reflecting gender diversity, which he finds baffling and unnecessary. These terms are not new, but describe the gender diversity that has long existed in our region of the Pacific. The term takatāpui has a long history in te ao Māori, originally used to describe an “intimate companion of the same sex”. This is attributable not to gender identity per se, but to the prejudice and discrimination gender-diverse people face as members of a highly marginalised group. This blossoming has occurred alongside a change to a new identity term and a new pronoun.

Source: Stuff July 07, 2020 17:01 UTC