Life as a Black Mirror episode: The State Department is now offering therapy to misgendered employees after a system-wide glitch ‘accidentally’ added pronouns to the “from” line on employee email addresses.
The twist: pronouns were assigned at random – leading officials to offer counseling to anyone “who feels hurt or upset.”
Read about it below from Steve Watson of Summit News;
The journalist, Matt Lee, challenged Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel, demanding to know why official emails were being sent with pronouns added to them.
“Within the last hour and a half… the State Department’s internal email system — and I tested this, so I know that it’s true —has added pronouns to people’s … not their signature … but to where it says from,” Lee said, asking “Why?”
“This is not an optional thing,” Lee said, adding “the problem is that a lot of them or at least some of them so far, as I’ve been able to tell, are wrong! They’re giving the wrong pronouns! So men are being identified as women and women as men…. It’s ridiculous!”
Patel had no knowledge of the development and couldn’t provide any answers.
Watch:
WATCH: AP’s Matt Lee asks Biden State Department why they’ve added mandatory pronouns onto the from line on State Department emails.
"This is not an optional thing. … But the problem is that a lot of them or at least some of them so far, as I’ve been able to tell, are wrong!… pic.twitter.com/KVnbnICrUT
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 18, 2023
Following the exchange, the State department issued a statement claiming “This change was unintentional and the bureau is working to correct this immediately.”
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) May 18, 2023
Priceless. The Biden State Department got caught misgendering their own employees. pic.twitter.com/nuDjhrvsHi
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 18, 2023
This comes from the same department that ‘celebrates’ some sort of obscure alphabet pride or pronoun day, that no one even knows exists, practically every week, has introduced ‘Gender X’ passports, and flies rainbow flags on the same pole as U.S. flags at embassies:
On International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia we call for an end to harmful conversion therapy practices, including those that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics. #IDAHOBIT pic.twitter.com/DA5XRXvb2Y
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 17, 2023
Today on International Pronouns Day, we share why many people list pronouns on their email and social media profiles. Read more here on @ShareAmerica: https://t.co/gWhoItvGvo.
— Department of State (@StateDept) October 20, 2021