Yes

It’s worth to keep in mind that whether something is disparaging or not depends on the intention, and the context. Similar to how, say, “gay” can be used both positively and negatively, for example, “that’s so gay”.

So why do some people like it/its? You’d need to ask the relevant person, there can be different reasons that are ultimately personal.

But here’s one way to think about it: We use ‘it’ for animals, right? Like if we have a dog, which we love, we often will still say ‘it’ for it, right? But that doesn’t mean we value it less, or somehow objectify it, or treat it like an object. We still acknowledge and respect it as a living breathing feeling being, and yet we may still use ‘it’ for it. This may be one way people might think of using it/its for themselves, at least!

And also there’s something about the vibe of it/its, I dunno, it’s hard to describe, but it is kinda growing on me a little bit as well