Often, exclusion is defended with a phrase that sounds neutral enough to escape scrutiny: “It’s just not my preference.” This framing is common in discussions around sexuality, gender, race, disability, and other social identities. People insist that their discomfort is personal, not political. That their exclusion of entire groups is a matter of taste rather than judgment. But when “preference” is used to dismiss people rather than objects, it stops functioning as a benign d