Non-binary person speaks out on controversy surrounding Quebec teacher using Mx. pronoun

It should be up to teachers to choose their preferred pronoun, regardless of gender identity, says a non-binary person in Quebec in response to a controversy at a school southeast of Montreal.

Police are investigating threats the school in Richelieu received after it sent a letter to parents advising of a new teacher who uses the gender-neutral Mx. honorific. The letter was shared widely on social media.

"I was taken aback by the nasty backlash. It's so much worse than I imagined it could ever be," said Alexe Frédéric Migneault on Friday.

Education minister Bernard Drainville has condemned hateful comments directed at the teacher but said a solution to the broader issue is unclear.

"We need to reflect upon the fact that there is a third way—or there will have to be a third way—to call a teacher who considers himself or herself neither monsieur nor madame," he said. "I don't necessarily have an answer to this right now, but I'm convinced that we all need to reflect on it."

Migneault says that rhetoric is harmful to people who, like them, use gender-neutral pronouns and the Mx. honorific pronounced 'Mix.'

"I think the minister of education is completely beside the point and unwillingly feeding into the enbyphobia that is being directed at the teacher in question right now," they said.

FRENCH VS ENGLISH

Adopting inclusive language is more difficult in French than English, says Migneault, who works as a translator.

"The French language, as everybody knows, is very binary. It's very masculine or feminine. There's no in-between, but non-binary people still exist, and French-speaking non-binary people are always going to exist. They need vocabulary," they said.

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has said he won't use the Mx. title, in part because it doesn't exist in the French language.

But Migneault argues that the language is always evolving.

"Just 50 years ago, when we implemented feminine forms of doctor or minister (in the French language), all these words that were feminized, this was not an issue, it was not a debate. It was a necessity because women were in the workforce."

The term Mx. was first used in print in the 1970s and only recently became popular, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which added the term in 2016.

POLICY CHANGES

Canadians have been allowed to choose "X'" as a gender identity on their passports since 2019.

In 2021, a Superior Court judge overturned parts of Quebec's civil code that prevented a person from changing their sex on their birth certificate.

Quebec has since been accused of dragging its feet in adapting to the new rules.

Migneault says they still cannot get a health card that matches their gender identity.

The RAMQ can currently only issue health cards with an "M" or "F" sex marker. The "X" sex marker is not an option, nor is issuing a health card with no sex marker at all.