First, the singular they has been in use since before English became modern English; it was used in Middle English in the 14th century. It only became declasse around 1900 when some overly stuffy grammarians started acting up.

Second, its use as a gender neutral singular is a bit more complex: It can be used either when we don't know the gender of the person:

Someone's coming up the street! They are coming to our house!

or when the person is nonbinary and prefers "they". Nonbinary people vary in which pronoun they prefer. Some use he or she, some use e, some use they; there are other possibilities to. Many prefer to use their names whenever possible, and eschew pronouns as much as possible. For instance, if the person's name is (say) Basil (as one nonbinary person I know is named):

Basil is coming up the street! Basil is coming to our house! Now Basil is knocking on our door!

First, the singular they has been in use since before English became modern English; it was used in Middle English in the 14th century. It only became déclassé around 1900 when some overly stuffy grammarians started acting up.

Second, its use as a gender neutral singular is a bit more complex: It can be used either when we don't know the gender of the person:

Someone's coming up the street! They are coming to our house!

or when the person is nonbinary and prefers "they". Nonbinary people vary in which pronoun they prefer. Some use he or she, some use e, some use they; there are other possibilities to. Many prefer to use their names whenever possible, and eschew pronouns as much as possible. For instance, if the person's name is (say) Basil (as one nonbinary person I know is named):

Basil is coming up the street! Basil is coming to our house! Now Basil is knocking on our door!

First, the singular they has been in use since before English became modern English; it was used in Middle English in the 14th century. It only became declase around 1900 when some overly stuffy grammarians started acting up.

Second, its use as a gender neutral singular is a bit more complex: It can be used either when we don't know the gender of the person:

Someone's coming up the street! They are coming to our house!

or when the person is nonbinary and prefers "they". Nonbinary people vary in which pronoun they prefer. Some use he or she, some use e, some use they; there are other possibilities to. Many prefer to use their names whenever possible, and eschew pronouns as much as possible. For instance, if the person's name is (say) Basil (as one nonbinary person I know is named):

Basil is coming up the street! Basil is coming to our house! Now Basil is knocking on our door!

First, the singular they has been in use since before English became modern English; it was used in Middle English in the 14th century. It only became declasse around 1900 when some overly stuffy grammarians started acting up.

Second, its use as a gender neutral singular is a bit more complex: It can be used either when we don't know the gender of the person:

Someone's coming up the street! They are coming to our house!

or when the person is nonbinary and prefers "they". Nonbinary people vary in which pronoun they prefer. Some use he or she, some use e, some use they; there are other possibilities to. Many prefer to use their names whenever possible, and eschew pronouns as much as possible. For instance, if the person's name is (say) Basil (as one nonbinary person I know is named):

Basil is coming up the street! Basil is coming to our house! Now Basil is knocking on our door!