A Florida couple has drawn international attention after revealing they've decided to raise their child as gender neutral.
They say Sparrow Dennis, 11-months-old, is not a boy or a girl - instead, the infant's parents use terms like "they", "them" and their "theyby".
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"Using they/them pronouns is part of the larger idea of giving Sparrow space of exploring gender without pressure or bias," said parent Ari Dennis.
"Girl children are complimented on their appearance way more than boy children. I'm just really removing boy/girl from the equation and just treating my child like a child."
Ari says they're part of wave of families raising their children in a gender neutral way, and says it gives their children an opportunity to "self-identify".
Even Sparrow's birth certificate lists sex as "unknown".
"When they were born, they had genitals, we know what they are, we just chose to acknowledge that those genitals don't indicate anything about gender," Dennis told local news station WTSP.
On their Facebook page 'Ari Not Sorry', Dennis created an infographic "to help clarify some misconceptions I am seeing circulating about the term 'theyby'."
The couple have an older child, Hazel, who they say began to assert her own gender around the age of four.
The story has raised eyebrows online. One person commented that the couple are committing child abuse and Sparrow should be taken away from them.
"If you are born male, then you're a boy. If you're born a female, then you're a girl. I seriously question today's methods of parenting, especially when they are harmful to a child's well-being during their later years," another commented.
However, others showed support for the move.
"This is really beautiful. I wish them the best," one person wrote.
"Let people live their lives," another wrote.
Newshub.
