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Gender asterisk, underscore or colon: SPD, CDU and FDP wanted to ban special characters for gendering from Bremerhaven - without success
Photo: Christian Ohde / IMAGO
Colon, gender asterisk or underscore: The coalition of SPD, CDU and FDP no longer wanted to see these special characters in gendering in the Bremerhaven administration.
Therefore, the magistrate decided in mid-December to ban the spelling in the administration.
Criticism has flared up in recent days.
Now the coalition factions have withdrawn the decision.
"The different reactions to the magistrate's decision have shown us that the chosen path was not the right one," said the parliamentary group leaders Sönke Allers (SPD), Thorsten Raschen (CDU), and Hauke Hilz (FDP) in a joint statement.
It is said that they did not want to show with their initiative that they do not care about gender diversity in gender-sensitive language.
In their explanation, however, they continue to speak of a "desperate attempt" to depict the existing diversity with circumlocutions using asterisks, colons or dashes.
Decisions not implemented due to gender language
Until the decision by the municipal authorities in December, the Bremerhaven administration was guided by a handout from the State of Bremen for the public service.
If there is no suitable gender-neutral term, the handout recommends using special characters.
In this way, people would also be included “who cannot or do not want to define themselves as a man or a woman”.
The coalition factions in Bremerhaven made it clear that they would reject the spellings recommended there, according to a draft resolution.
"For this reason, some magistrate bills have recently no longer been approved for a referral to the magistrate," it continues.
The magistrate implemented the coalition's initiative on December 15 as a resolution.
The coalition parties also hold the majority in this administrative authority of the city of Bremerhaven.
From then on, only gender-neutral formulations or the naming of the female and male form should appear in the public service, special characters as part of the word were considered »unlawful«.
State Women's Representative welcomes the repeal
The decision drew harsh criticism.
Günter Matthiessen, member of the district executive of the Left Party in Bremerhaven, stated on the party's website: "At first I thought this report was a premature April Fool's joke."
"It's good that the coalition in Bremerhaven has now corrected its mistake," she says, welcoming the withdrawal of the decision.
Gender signs are necessary to address everyone equally.
When asked by SPIEGEL, the press office of the city of Bremerhaven said that after this announcement by the coalition partners, the decision could be withdrawn with legal effect at tomorrow's municipal meeting.
At the same time, the SPD, CDU and FDP announced that they expect the state of Bremen to introduce binding legal regulations on the use of gender-sensitive language.
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