I have been ranting in this blog for quite many years about the sometimes really aggravating use of the pronoun "they" to refer to one single person, which has been very actively (and often aggressively) pushed by the modern far left for the past 15+ years. One particular pet peeve of mine is how the math popularizer famous youtuber Matt Parker started actively (and excessively) using it for that purpose some time in 2019, and has never really stopped (good example blog post here.)
Because I like to be fair and academic, I would like to present here three different sides to this question, three different positions and arguments about it.
1. The modern leftist position
It's very disrespectful and hurtful to just assume someone's gender, and with some people it could outright trigger a mental episode. Assuming that someone is a "he" or a "she" can be the wrong assumption to make and thus can be very hurtful, even psychologically violent, and thus one ought to avoid doing that until one has corroborated that person's preferred pronouns.
However, since the English language does not have a gender-neutral singular third-person pronoun (like some other languages do), "they" serves that role and it's very strongly recommended to be used in this situation. It is, in fact, so neutral that it can be used even if the person has expressed their preferred pronouns, as it does not assume gender.
2. The modern anti-leftist position
"They" is the third person plural pronoun, and using it to refer to one single person is grammatically incorrect, it's not natural language, and it's forcefully and artificially being pushed onto society for ideological and political reasons, as a form of speech control.
If one submits to using it to refer to one single person, one is submitting to the demands, activism and political propaganda of the far left, which is trying to gain power and take over every aspect of society, and controlling people's speech is one aspect of that.
Yes, using expressions like "he or she" can be a bit clumsy and awkward (particularly if it needs to be repeated several times in the same sentence), but it's not only grammatically correct English, it's also a refusal to submit to the political propaganda and activism of the far left. Refusing to use "they" to refer to one person in the modern world is rebellion against the attempts at speech control of the left.
3. The neutral/apolitical position
The use of "they" to refer to one single person, especially and particularly to refer to a generic undefined person (rather than some known individual in particular), is actually not a new invention, and in fact goes back centuries. While using expressions like "he or she" has been extremely common in the past (including the very recent past), the use of "they" for that same purpose is definitely not unheard of, and it has been used for that exact thing.
In general, its use in English is acceptable when referring to an undetermined person, rather than a specific known individual. For example, an instruction manual or a textbook for something might be talking about "the user", or "the client", or "the patient", or "the employee", or "the player", or any of the other myriads of categories of people, and subsequently referring to such an undetermined person as "they".
In such situations using "he or she" is equally valid, but can be cumbersome, especially if it needs to be repeated several times in quick succession, such as for example: "The player puts the card into his or her discard pile, and then reveals the top card of his or her deck. If it's a creature card, he or she puts it into play under his or her control." While this is perfectly valid, it's quite repetitive and cumbersome language. Using "they" instead of "he or she" is equally valid and results in more fluent text.
This has nothing to do with politics and agendas, and is simply a question of practicality, based on actual historical use of the word for this purpose.
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