The Rules Package for the 117th Congress includes a proposal to replace gendered language referring to a representative’s family members with gender-neutral terms, House leaders announced Friday.
Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Massachusetts Rep. James McGovern, chairman of the Rules Committee, announced changes to the House rules that will “honor all gender identities” by modifying the pronouns and familial relations references in the rules, the Committee on Rules announced.
The resolution would change “pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender-neutral or removes references to gender, as appropriate, to ensure we are inclusive of all Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioners and their families – including those who are nonbinary,” McGovern’s announcement said.
The new rules also change “seamen” to “seafarers,” “chairman” to “chair” and “submit his or her resignation” to “resigns,” according to the resolution.
House Speaker Pelosi went on to say she is “pleased to join Chairman Jim McGovern in introducing this visionary rules package, which reflects the views and values of the full range of our historically diverse House Democratic Majority.”
“Thanks to the leadership of Chairman McGovern and our Members, Democrats have crafted a package of unprecedented, bold reforms, which will make the House more accountable, transparent, and effective in our work to meet the needs of the American people,” said Pelosi.
“These future-focused proposals reflect our priorities as a Caucus and as a Country,” the House Speaker added.
Within the proposals are the creation of the “Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth,” which would require Congress to “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender-neutral.”
In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, gendered terms, such as “father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or granddaughter” will be removed.
In their place, terms such as “parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild” will be used, instead.
Extended family members would be referred to as “child’s parent” instead of aunt or uncle, stepparents, and siblings-in-law.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Caller.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
