On Thursday, the New York Times issued a thousand-word apology for using the pronoun “she” to describe Asia Kate Dillon, an actress (Actor? ... Person?). Dillon, who appears in the TV series “Orange is the New Black” and “Billions,” identifies as “non-binary” and prefers to be referred to as “they.”
The Public Editor at the Times, Liz Spayd, wrote the drawn-out apology for an op-ed that contained the clause “Asia Kate Dillon discussing her nonbinary gender.”
Spayd writes that the mistake happened because editors “were under the impression that ‘they’ could not be used as a singular pronoun,” and calls upon the Associated Press to include this new usage of “they” when issuing in their next style guide.
Dillon has been in the news recently for presenting the first non-gendered award at the MTV Movie Awards to Emma Watson, who is an actress (I am pretty sure).
Dillon is the first non-binary actor to play a non-binary character on a TV show in “Billions,” where she plays a financial genius (singular).
“I’m honored and humbled and really proud MTV has joined the conversation about binaries,” Dillon said about presenting the award. Dillon also said, “Without binaries, there is only ‘us.’”
Or perhaps there is only “they.” And they, not just the Times, are making mistakes with Dillon’s preferred pronouns. A Refinery29 article has the editor’s note at the bottom: “This article has been updated to reflect Asia Kate Dillon’s preferred gender pronoun usage.” The International Movie Database also has Dillon listed as an “actress.”
As Emily Zanotti notes in a piece on Heat Street, this mistake “appears to have broken the emotional back of the New York Times editorial board.” It is easy to see how.
“At a time when American culture is outpacing the language to describe it,” writes Spayd in the apology, “easily referenced rules can prevent the kinds of embarrassing mistakes that could leave the Times seeming out of touch.” Why in the world would we think that anyone in this story is out of touch?