The guide states that “it is not intended to constrain the academic freedom or free speech rights of members of the Stanford community,” but it takes positions on topics that remain matters of public and academic controversy, and it is part of the university’s official “Identity Guide.”
The entry for “gender, gender identity” says that “Not all people fall under one of two categories for sex or gender, according to leading medical organizations, so avoid using both sexes, either sex, or opposite sexes to encompass all people.” Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist, maintains that sex is binary, as do many other scientists and doctors. Should a university communications office be canonizing beliefs that may well be pseudoscientific?