Toronto PFLAG and Egale Canada Human Rights Trust laud Facebook's gender identity announcement
TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2014 /CNW/ - Toronto Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (Egale) are pleased to support Facebook's announcement of new gender options to help users better express their unique identities.
Following the global social media leader's 10th anniversary milestone, people who use Facebook in U.S. English can now select from a significantly broader range of gender-choices and suitable pronouns that they feel best describe their identity. Toronto PFLAG and Egale strongly support the introduction of these custom gender options in Canada and look forward to the availability of these options for all Facebook users worldwide.
"We are greatly encouraged by Facebook's groundbreaking efforts to identify an inclusive range of user-profile options related to gender identity," said Toronto PFLAG President Irene Miller. "We applaud Facebook as a courageous champion, and encourage their continued endeavours to assist LGBTQ-individuals to live, express and present their authentic selves."
Recognizing that some individuals face obstacles in sharing their true gender identity with others, Facebook offers the feature for users to control the audience with whom they want to share this information.
"Facebook has collaborated with leading LGBTQ advocacy organizations to offer an extensive list of gender identity terms beyond binary definitions of male and female," said Helen Kennedy, Executive Director of Egale Canada Human Rights Trust. "This is a principled initiative that responds to the need for dialogue pertaining to gender identity and sexual orientation on a global level."
Toronto PFLAG and Egale commend Facebook's leadership and call upon other social media platforms to implement similar gender-related improvements to their user profile options. As these changes become more widely accessible, we hope that all organizations will adopt more LGBTQ and gender-inclusive options.
More Information: https://www.facebook.com/facebookdiversity
SOURCE: PFLAG Toronto
Media Contact:
Bryn Hendricks
Director of Media and Public Relations
416 875 2635
[email protected]
Egale Contact:
Helen Kennedy
Executive Director
416-964-7887 ext 7000
[email protected]
www.egale.ca
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