It’s illogical to use perceived grammatical rules to argue against treating people w/ dignity, so these arguments should be immediately rejected. It’s interesting, tho, that when people do this, they always reveal a deep ignorance of not just English, but language more generally. 
Pronoun systems are not some pristine grammatical mapping of referents. Otherwise, all languages would perfectly delineate between person, plurality, animacy, humanness, etc. Most systems—including English!—have quirks & gaps that speakers easily resolve.
-English does not distinguish between sing/plural in 2nd person: (You). Some dialects have filled this gap w/ y’all, yins, etc
-Varietes of Spanish use 3rd person (usted(es)) for 2nd person.
-In spoken French, 3rd person sing is indistinguishable from 3rd person plural (Il/Ils)
-Varietes of Spanish use 3rd person (usted(es)) for 2nd person.
-In spoken French, 3rd person sing is indistinguishable from 3rd person plural (Il/Ils)
Other languages like Bengali & varieties of spoken Chinese make very few gender distinctions. In Turkish, "she," "he," and "it" all correspond to a single pronoun: "o."
Just “o.” How do they manage to understand each other at all?!
Just “o.” How do they manage to understand each other at all?!
But then back to singular (epicene) “they.” Epicene-they was in common use in both spoken & written English for centuries before grammarians demanded it be replaced with “he.” They felt so passionately about this that they introduced the change in an ACT of PARLIAMENT
The natural language use of “they” vs grammarians' dictations is such a hot topic in formal writing that style manuals differ. And the desire to use good-old “they” is so strong in English speakers that the Chicago MoS has a whole section offering NINE alternatives. NINE
Now, again, using *Grammar* as an excuse to erase people’s identity & treat them with disrespect is head-scratchingly illogical, regardless of the status of “they” in English. The argument should be immediately rejected as ridiculous. But improper pedantry is also very revealing.
And, for my own part, I cannot let these myths about pronouns systems stand. They hurt the brain. Even worse when *false statements* about language are used to loftily argue against equal treatment of others.
Finally, language doesn't *seek* to do anything. It's not a person. Language speakers *seek* to communicate with one another. And if they want to do so with clarity, they can use the proper pronouns associated w/ others' gender identity, which, in English, are: he, she, & THEY.
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