b'surrounding LGBTQIA2S+ identities to theolder generations approach to sexual andgender identity. Kennedy acknowledgedthat the extensive amount of quicklychanging knowledge required tounderstand and discuss the spectrum ofgender and sexual identities may be abarrier for folks who truly do want to What are your pronouns? Why does itengage in meaningful support for matter? What does it feel like to beLGBTQIA2s+ youth. She emphasized the misgendered?importance of connecting the oldergenerations with the younger generations All three panelists agreed that, when shared,[through] things like this webinar [to give] respecting the pronouns that a personthe older generation something to chooses to use is a way to show respect forreference to. Heath shared a personal that persons identity. Kennedy began bystory about their relationship with their stating that she uses she/her pronouns. Whilefamily to support this idea. When I came she noted that she has never beenout, I was trying to be as informative as misgendered (referenced using the wrongpossible regarding how I identify and what gender) because, to others, she looks like amy future looks like. she/her and acts like a she/her, sheemphasized the importance of usingsomeones preferred pronouns in order tovalidate them and who they are. Misty, whoTo learn more about starting conversations with also uses she/her pronouns shared, Im a bityouth in your community about sexual and masculine, but I like feeling feminine. Forgender identity, visit these resources:Misty, being misgendered is painful. SheIndigenizing Love: A Toolkit for Native Youth to noted that, for members of the transgendercommunity (individuals who do not identifyBuild Inclusion | United for Youth with the sex assigned to them at birth), someTate Topa Consulting do not have the choice to not use pronouns.LGBTQI and Two-Spirit PeopleThe Resource They have to elaborate. Heath, who usesBasketSharing Our Lived Experiences: 22 Tips for Caring he/they pronouns, agreed that respectingfor Two-Spirit and LGBTQ Youth in the Child others pronouns is a way of validating thatWelfare System persons identity. Heath also shared that theyWorking with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender recognize that they appear more feminine, soand questioning/queer youth they are sometimes misgendered by folksThe Pride Justice Resource Center: The National who assume they use different pronouns.Resource Center on Justice-Involved LGBTQ2S+ They shared that this doesnt bother them, asYouth I know who I am as a person.8'