Mental health advisory board member’s bizarre pronoun stuns meeting
Daily Mail UK | March 13, 2025 | Samantha Rutt

A member of Oregon’s Health Authority (OHA) on best practices and policies in mental health said they identify as a ‘turtle’ during a state panel meeting.

JD Holt, who also goes by ‘JD Terrapin’ on Facebook, announced that they use ‘they, them and turtle’ for their preferred pronouns during a December meeting.

‘Hello everybody, it’s JD. I use they, them and turtle for my pronouns. I’m in the Springfield-Eugene area and I get to be part of the council,’ Holt said during a virtual advisory council meeting.

Holt is one of roughly two dozen ‘consumers’ on the OHA’s Consumer Advisory Council.

The council, established by administrative statute, is appointed by OHA Director Sejal Hathi, who was appointed by the state’s Democratic Governor, Tina Kotek.

According to a website that documents the ongoing list of non-binary genders, Gender Wiki, ‘turtlegender,’ sometimes called ‘tortoisegender,’ is ‘a xenogender identity in which one feels a gendered connection to turtles.’

‘One may feel their gender is replaced by a “turtle,” or their gender is best described with the use of turtles,’ the site reads.

…

Peculiar behavior is not uncommon at the OHA as at an earlier meeting another member was also heard using unexpected pronouns, introducing themselves as ‘Luke A Shooting Star.’