Connecticut lawmakers file legislation to ban state agencies from using ‘Latinx’

Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut have introduced a bill to bar state agencies from using the term “Latinx,” a word that has been targeted by lawmakers in a number of states.

The bill would prohibit state agencies or state employees on behalf of a state agency from using “Latinx” on any official communications or forms for a state agency. 

The move from the five Latino House Democrats in the Connecticut state legislature comes after the use of the term has faced backlash in recent years. It is used as a gender-neutral form of “Latino” or “Latina” and has gained some popularity among progressives. 

But it has also been criticized as a term that is unpronounceable in Spanish, and many Spanish-speaking people in the progressive world, including in the U.S., have started to use the term “Latine” as a replacement for “Latinx.” 

Conservatives have also latched onto the term as another prong in the culture war, and newly elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) banned the use of “Latinx” on her first day in office.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the country, announced it would discontinue its use of the word in 2021.