Facebook allows users to customize gender
Facebook said it will allow users to customize their gender, rather than giving limited option of either male or female. / Yonahap
Facebook said it will allow users to customize their gender, rather than giving limited option of either male or female.
Their decision came after consulting with gay and transgender advocacy groups, BBC reported.
The 50 options, which include "bi-gender," "transgender," “androgynous" “gender fluid” and "transsexual," will allow people "to express themselves in an authentic way," Facebook said in a post.
The new options will initially only be for those using the site in U.S. English.
Users can also choose whether to be referred to as "he," "she" or the gender-neutral "they."
"There's going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world," Facebook engineer Brielle Harrison told the Associated Press.
"Former homosexual" Jeff Johnston, who serves as Focus on the Family's Gender Issues Analyst and a devout Christian, was quoted as saying in today’s article on New Zealand Conservative website that “Those petitioning for the change insist that there are an infinite number of genders, but just saying it doesn't make it so.”