Facebook has introduced a new feature that allows users to choose a different gender identity than the typical male or female. In fact, they can choose among 56 options.

“There’s going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing,” says Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison, “but for the few it does impact, it means the world.”

Harrison is one of the people whom the changes affect the most. She’s preparing for gender surgery herself (from male to female), and she’s now changed her Facebook identity from “Female” to “TransWoman.”

“All too often transgender people like myself and other gender nonconforming people are given this binary option, do you want to be male or female?” she said. “What is your gender? And it’s kind of disheartening because none of those let us tell others who we really are,” she said. “This really changes that, and for the first time I get to go to the site and specify to all the people I know what my gender is.” (AP)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.