> In English, male pronouns may legitimately be used to refer to individuals of unknown gender.

Take a few moments with yourself this evening to seriously think about why this might be.

It's weird when all the comments here prove why what said needed to be said. I thought this wasn't Reddit.

Not only English, as far as I know multiple European languages have it standardised this way.

It's not really that important, no. It's totally legitimate – though you might not agree – to make the argument that male pronouns being used for people of unknown gender is anachronistic. In that case, use of a gender-neutral pronoun seems like a reasonable evolution of English which takes into account modern sensitivity to gender issues.

This, of course, assumes that you're not of the trivially ridiculous belief that language should never evolve.

Matthew, the person you are arguing with, or rather, hurling snark at, did not make the claim that language should never evolve. I'm not sure why you felt so compelled to end a reasoned comment on such a nasty note.

I am in full support of this code. It approaches a sensitive subject with the care it deserves and does not seek to strip anyone of their dignity. Quite a world away from the punitive actions advocated by Erik Michaels-Ober on other projects.