The Long Beach City Council approved a resolution Tuesday to only use gender-inclusive language in its future ordinances and resolutions. The council also took the first steps toward adopting an ordinance that will amend the municipal code to reflect the new policy.
This means the city will no longer use gender-specific words in laws, resolutions and policies. City officials hope this will help “eliminate stigma and discrimination across all facets of society by embracing people of all gender identities and/or expressions for who they are,” according to a Feb. 1 letter to the council from City Attorney Charles Parkin.
Doing this will further the city’s stance on non-discrimination by “being inclusive of all people, regardless of their gender identities, gender expressions, and/or pronouns,” according to Parkin’s letter.
The proposed ordinance says such a new policy is necessary in part because “certain communities such as the transgender and non-binary communities often face stigma surrounding who they are from an early age, which is often rooted in inaccurate beliefs and politically motivated attacks on such identities.”
The council is scheduled to formally adopt the ordinance at its Feb. 8 meeting.