Since the inauguration, the incoming administration has been extremely busy dismantling its predecessor’s legacy.
One of President Joe Biden’s moves in this regard has conservatives feeling extremely triggered. They’re losing their minds because the new White House drop-down menu offers gender-nonconforming and -neutral pronouns and prefixes.
The change comes amid a flurry of actions, including expanding Civil Rights Act protection for LGBTQ people and allowing students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity.
Reversing bathroom protections, one of former President Donald Trump’s first moves in 2017, earned his administration widespread condemnation for being transphobic. Despite claiming that he wasn’t bigoted, this was just one of many anti-LGBTQ decisions by his administration.
Most people would probably consider a drop-down menu for a contact form rather low on the list of reasons to be outraged. But highly-online conservatives aren’t most people.
Among the reactions: Ben Shapiro complaining, “The administration that values objectively verifiable facts has begun!” (because apparently marrying a physician makes one an expert on gender), Dave Rubin snipping, “‘Other’ seems like real progress,” and the like.
Twitter user Rational Disconnect compiled some of the inexplicable outrage into a widely circulated tweet captioned, “imagine getting this triggered over a drop down menu option.”
Others also delighted in mocking the outsized response.
“Ben Shapiro is gonna SHIT himself,” predicted one sentient being.
LGBTQ people and their allies, meanwhile, celebrated the change.
“This is such a small thing—except it’s *not* a small thing at all, and it says so much about the incoming administration: that they want to be inclusive, that they are aware that details matter, that they have a plan,” tweeted author Celeste Ng.