If you're on Twitter and see a person deadnaming or misgendering someone else, you should report it. It'll take you minutes, and truly matters.

The harmful anti-LGBTQ microaggression known as deadnaming (the practice of using the birth or former name of a transgender or non-binary person who has changed it) can happen by mistake. But sometimes it's used maliciously with a deliberate intention to hurt trans and non-binary people — particularly online.

Words matter. Writing for Mashable, Alison Foreman described it perfectly, "For many, unconscious biases creep into the common vocabulary by way of microaggressions, behaviors that subtly or indirectly communicate a derogatory or otherwise hostile message to the recipient. Microaggressions have the power to make those on the receiving end feel socially uneasy, culturally out of place, or even physically unsafe."

"Microaggressions have the power to make those on the receiving end feel socially uneasy, culturally out of place, or even physically unsafe."

You can also report when you see someone on Twitter misgendering another person — using a wrong name, pronoun, or form of address that does not reflect a person's gender. It's really important.

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"Whether misgendering happens as an innocent mistake or a malicious attempt to invalidate a person, it is deeply hurtful and can even put a person’s safety at risk if they are outed as transgender in an environment that is not tolerant," The Trevor Project notes.

"Purposefully misgendering is not OK, and you can be a good ally by standing up for others if you witness someone being harassed for their gender. If you misgender someone by accident, apologize swiftly without making an excessive show out of the mistake or your guilt, which can create even more discomfort for the person who has been misgendered. Show that you care by doing better moving forward."

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Being an ally to transgender and nonbinary people means educating yourself (instead of constantly leaning on trans and non-binary people to share their lived experience), stepping up, and calling it out — and that means online too. You can be capable of being discriminatory yourself, and probably without meaning to, but just be mindful of how carelessness can be harmful to others.

Some online platforms, including TikTok and Twitter, are making calling it out a little easier. In 2018, Twitter updated its hateful conduct policy to include a ban on deadnaming and misgendering on the platform. Here's the policy:

We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.

We also prohibit the dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious disease, national origin, race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

So, if you see someone doing this, it's really easy to report it.

How to report a tweet for deadnaming or misgendering someone

Total Time

• 2 min

What You Need

• Smartphone
• Twitter app

Step 1: Click the three dots on the top right hand corner of the tweet you want to report and select "Report Tweet."

Credit: Screenshot: Twitter

Step 2: When asked who the report is about, select "Someone else or a specific group of people" unless you've been deadnamed or misgendered in the tweet, in which case, select "Myself."

Step 3: When asked for more info, select "Attacked because of their identity," as this is the section that covers "slurs, misgendering, racist, or sexist stereotypes, encouraging others to harass, sending hateful imagery."

Credit: Screenshot: Twitter

Step 4: The next page will ask how the tweet is doing this, and you can pick which options you think apply, but most importantly, select "Misgendering or deadnaming them."

Step 5: Twitter will then ask you which part of the person's identity is being targeted; select "Gender/gender identity."

Step 6: You'll see a few more screens double checking everything — it should say you're submitting a "hateful conduct report."

Step 7: Keep clicking continue if everything's good, and you're done.

Twitter will then let you know that your report is in a queue for review (the company says it takes "a few days"), and that the reported tweet will be hidden from your timeline. You'll be notified if there is, in fact, a violation of the rules, and Twitter will detail in a message what actions it is taking.

It'll take you two minutes and it really matters.