Facebook is adding new gender identifying terms on the site in an effort to be more friendly for those that previously found "male" or "female" didn't fit them.

According to The Associated Press, users will now find they have nearly 50 different terms available. Some of the new additions include gender fluid, transsexual, intersex or bi-gender.

Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison commented on the changes, "There's going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world."

Not everyone agrees with the changes. Jeff Johnston, an analyst for the religious organization Focus on the Family, said, "Of course Facebook is entitled to manage its wildly popular site as it sees fit, but here is the bottom line: it's impossible to deny the biological reality that humanity is divided into two halves - male and female." He added that trying to alter that reality "doesn't make it so."

TechCrunch reports that three different pronouns can be selected that will show up on the site, including him, her or them.

Facebook in an email said that it worked with LGBTQ groups to gather together the various identifying terms existing. Users can still opt to hide their gender from other users on the site as well.

image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons