In a poll conducted by Newsweek, respondents were asked about their thoughts on preferred pronouns and “misgendering.” The prompt stated, “Referring to someone by the wrong gender pronoun (he/him, she/her) should be a criminal offense.”

First of all, we won’t use scare quotes every time, but in the Left’s lexicon, “misgendering” means using pronouns corresponding to biology regardless of a person’s chosen “identity.”

One may assume that Gen Z would be the generation most ardent to support this. Surprisingly, it is the Millennials who are calling for the criminalization of misgendering. According to the poll, 44% of respondents aged 25-34 (Millennials) said they agreed that misgendering should be illegal. Only 31% disagreed. Millennials were the worst, but Gen X wasn’t far behind them. While the 35- to 44-year-old cohort includes some Millennials, 38% of that group think misgendering should be a criminal offense, with only 35% disagreeing.

Interestingly enough, Gen Zers (age 18-24) seem to have the most common sense. Thirty-three percent agree with criminalizing misgendering, and 48% oppose.

This seems like a far-fetched idea, but people have been thrown in jail for using the wrong pronouns. PJ Media lists several examples in Europe and Canada where people have been arrested or investigated as criminals. Townhall cites an Irish school teacher who lost his job for refusing to use a student’s declared pronouns.

If the Newsweek poll is to be believed, then who’s to say that the U.S. won’t start making misgendering illegal? Except we already are trying. In California, students were suspended for using a teacher’s “incorrect” pronouns. In Michigan, House Bill 4474 passed. This legislation would make it a felony to intimidate someone and misgender them. It is classified as a hate crime.

Preferred pronouns are perhaps the most confusing and egotistical part of the transgenderism canon. People who claim they are the opposite gender believe a delusion and aren’t satisfied unless you affirm their delusion. The next step is always force for this ideology.

People resist this ideology because it is a lie. A man cannot become a woman or a woman a man. A singular person is not a they/them, zhe/zher, or whatever other linguistic concoction they make up. Preferred pronouns are based on a lie, foisted on the public, and can be changed on a whim.

Preferred pronouns are also pretty egotistical because the user forces people to adhere to a personal whim, the results being that people are confused or exhausted trying to remember and insert the correct preferred pronouns for people.

Who’s to say a person can’t get legally charged if they “misgender” someone simply because the object of their misgendering had changed their pronouns half a dozen times? “Misgendering” might be considered a hate crime, but unlike race, age, biological sex, or physical/mental ability, gender expression and preferred pronouns aren’t immutable characteristics.

Why are so many younger and middle-age adults on the censorship and cancellation bandwagon? Some have speculated that these generations are simply the product of Boomer Hippie parenting, which is fair. It is far more likely that these people have bought into this ideology because they have children who are living the ideology. Our Nate Jackson recently wrote about such parents, who would rather go down with the transgenderism ship than admit they permanently damaged their kids.

Millennials have also been strenuously taught to respect everyone — even if that means lying to them, apparently. Hopefully this generation will wake up to the dangers of going down this road. Transgenderism isn’t the next civil rights movement. It is an ideology that preys on the vulnerable and should be refuted at every opportunity.