Mother who is raising her 11-month-old child as Gender-neutral describes the Child as a ‘theyby’ who can decide their Sex at an Older Age

A family in Florida is raising their child as a gender-neutral baby and are referring to the 11-month-old child as ‘theyby.’

Ari Dennis, 30, said her child, named Sparrow, has no specific gender because she wants to let her child decide their gender when the time is right. Ari refers to Sparrow as ‘theyby’ – a relatively new term given to babies without a known sex.

The parenting philosophy means only parents and caregivers know the baby’s anatomy and what sex organ they are born with. They also believe the gender part of the child comes later and is left up to the child to decide which gender they identify as.

In an interview, Dennis refused to reveal the gender of her baby and even the birth-certificate says ‘sex-unknown.’

She told WTSP:

We did not assign a sex at birth which means when they were born, they had genitals, we know what they are, we just chose to acknowledge that those genitals don’t indicate anything about gender.

Ari and her partner said the family was inspired to raise Sparrow without a known gender after their older child, Hazel, discovered gender around the age of four.

She explained:

We are in no way prohibiting Sparrow from having a gender, and we’re not forcing them to be one gender or another.

We did not assign a sex at birth, which means when they were born they had genitals and we know what they are.

We just chose to acknowledge that those genitals don’t indicate anything.’

Dennis uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ when describing Sparrow. She previously told NBC that the family’s top priority is to ensure that their children feel accepted for who they are.

A Facebook group called ‘Parenting Theybies: using they/them/their pronouns for kids from the start’ is creating a community for parents who are raising their children outside of gender binary norms.