&gt;I do not accept responsibility for feelings of offense others may feel in response to my speech.<p>If you know some people will be offended by a particular usage and you choose to use it anyway, then you are responsible for the resulting offence, whether you accept it or not.<p>Sometimes there are benefits which make the offence worthwhile, particularly when the offence is exceptionally uncommon. But using gender specific speech in generic&#x2F;unknown contexts has no such benefits, and will cause offence fairly often. Singular they is easy and idiomatic, and I don&#x27;t see any real excuse not to use it, other than laziness.<p>&gt;It&#x27;s not my job to manage their emotional state.<p>No, it&#x27;s just a nice thing to do.