This badge was made in 2016 and is one of the badges that have been sold in St Mary’s that have been bought by people for whom the pronouns he or she don’t seem to fit.
The use of the “they” as a singular pronoun is often seen as a modern invention but it isn’t anything of the kind. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the singular “they” in 1375.
The badge is also a reminder that issues of gender are different in different languages. Some of the languages spoken by members of the congregation at St Mary’s (notably including Igbo) don’t use gendered pronouns at all.
