English Couple Announces They’re Raising Their Baby To Be ‘Gender-Neutral,’ Will Let Child Pick Their Own

An English couple has announced that they are raising their newborn baby to be “gender-neutral,” Yahoo News reports. That means that, among other things, the couple aren’t revealing the baby’s biological gender even to friends and family; will refer to the baby using neutral pronouns such as “they”; and will allow the child to choose their gender identity for himself or herself when (if) they choose to do so.

Hobbit Humphrey, 38, and Jake England-Johns, 35, are the proud parents of 17-month-old Anoush, whom they dress in both boys’ and girls’ clothes.

Jake told local media that they chose this rather unorthodox method of raising their child because he and Hobbit didn’t want to impose their own ideas of gender identity on the baby. They aren’t trying to make the baby specifically gender-neutral, he says, but rather, are trying to themselves be neutral in raising the baby so that his or her gender identity is their own.

“The neutral in gender neutral refers to us trying to behave neutrally towards our child rather than trying to make them neutral,” Jake says.

So diligent are the couple about letting the baby decide their gender identity for themselves that, in order to stymie any unwanted outside influence on the baby’s identity, not even his or her close family know.

However, there is one aspect of child rearing that grandparents are often roped into, and which, when done properly, leaves little ambiguity about a baby’s biological gender: diaper-changing.

Anoush’s grandmother, Camille, found out the baby’s biological gender when changing a diaper. Other than that, only the baby’s parents know the secret (unless Camille has spilled the tea).

Rosa Freedman, professor of law conflict and global development at the University of Reading, says that this type of child rearing could create problems for the British government down the road should it catch on with other parents. For example, the National Health Service wouldn’t be able to plan out pediatric services because they wouldn’t know how many boys there are and how many girls there are.

Freedman says that if the parents are that committed to gender equality, they should channel their efforts elsewhere.

“Parents concerned about gendered social construct would do better to fight patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia rather and try to virtue signal to their friends and communities so they can get praise,” she said.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, here in the U.S. acceptance of LGBTQ individuals is actually on the decline among Millennials and Generation Z.