State Watch

Connecticut city votes to remove gender pronouns from rules of order

by Rebecca Savransky

A city in Connecticut is removing gender pronouns from its legislative body’s rules of order.

Stamford’s Board of Representatives voted earlier this month to remove the gender pronouns from its rules of order and to instead use people’s titles, the Stamford Advocate reported.

Raven Matherne, Connecticut’s first openly transgender elected official, proposed the change along with two other Democratic representatives.

{mosads}Matherne said the change was an effort “to acknowledge the members of this board, just as in each of our districts and the city at large, cannot always be described as he or she,” according to The Associated Press.

The chairman of the Legislative and Rules Committee called the change a “modernization.”

“Gendered nouns are no longer used as often in legal documents or legislative documents,” Benjamin Lee said.
 
The executive director of Norwalk’s Triangle Community Center, a resource for the LGBT community in the area, also praised the change.

“This measure will make Stamford’s governing body more welcoming, inclusive and accessible to people of every gender identity, as it should be,” Executive Director Anthony Crisci said.

According to the Advocate, the measure passed unanimously with one abstention. 

The decision comes as more government institutions start to look at their use of gender and sexual identity language in official documents. 

Last week, the Department of Commerce removed its mention of gender identity and sexual orientation from its equal opportunity employment statement.