With the approval of a motion that will fine any members of Murcia’s public administration who use inclusive language in official written statements, Spain’s view on the acceptance of nonbinary identities has become a growing concern amongst members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community
On November 10 2021, Partido Popular and Ciudadanos approved VOX’s motion that aims to sanction government workers who do not “make correct use of the Spanish language.” However, the VOX ex-deputy Juan José Liarte revealed the underlying reason for the creation of this motion: a way to prevent public administrations from perpetuating the use of inclusive language which is, according to Liarte, “manipulative and revolutionary.” He then added, “it’s as if you say you feel like a dog and that you have the right to have others call you a dog and treat you like one […] when they’re actually mentally unstable or attention-seeking.”
Hidden under a thin veil of a motion encouraging the “correct” use of grammar lies a political ideology based on cisnormativity and misogyny. This censorship does not only stigmatise gender-neutral language, but it also states that only the masculine version of words should be used, rather than both the masculine and feminine. Many claim that this is sexist as they are “dismissing the existence of half of the human race.”
But many forget that it is also an attempt to censor genderqueer people out of existence. By making inclusive terms such as the personal pronoun elle (they/them) or words ending with an -e like chiques (children/young people) as a way to replace gendered endings (usually ending with -a or -o) in public administrations, including schools and hospitals, many nonbinary individuals fear that their identities will be stigmatised and invalidated.
“Whilst I can understand that someone’s choice not to use inclusive language, I don’t think completely banning it from politics is a smart choice,” states Edén* (she/he), a Spanish citizen who identifies as genderqueer. “I actually don’t think it really affects our country in a positive way, instead it just invalidates many people’s identities who are not going to change just because someone told them it’s not “grammatically correct”. This does more harm as it only creates controversy.”
Genderfluid Spanish student Onyx* (she/her) warns that “Spanish politics are rapidly turning into means to control the population rather than to provide for what we need. The majority of political parties act like our lives are a joke; the ones supposed to support inclusive language decide to say nothing in this critical moment; the ones that were all about freedom of speech and that claimed that they were the only ones who could actually bring freedom to the country are the ones banning public administrations, which are there to basically serve the Spanish population, from using inclusive language, breaking basic rights like the freedom to feel comfortable with your gender and be treated with the respect that right now we don’t seem to have.
“Even though this has happened in a relatively small part of the country it’s clear that these political parties want more. They should know that we are not a joke and that we’re definitely not toys that they can play with when they’re bored.”
What is more, Antheia* (he/they) and Omar* (any pronouns) add that it is “offensive, wrong and completely unnecessary to oppress people in this way. It doesn’t inconvenience them at all to not fine people for using gender-neutral language, it’s just their own ignorance. They’re compromising the population’s [wellbeing] so that they can feel more comfortable.”
On a linguistic level, Aeden (they/them), a Spanish nonbinary agender student, argues that “language is constantly evolving and adapting to people’s needs. It is not our problem that the RAE [the official Spanish dictionary] cannot keep up with these changes. It is not our problem that people do not understand that all languages consist of words that have been made up as a way to expand our level of understanding. It is just ignorant to believe that by mocking, censoring and illegalising our language it will disappear, we will disappear. This type of censorship has happened throughout history, especially during the Spanish dictatorship, and it has not worked.”
As of today, only the Murcian government has agreed to pass this motion. Nevertheless, the fact that this motion has been passed has left many people on edge. “Something has to be done,” concludes Aeden “otherwise more provinces will follow their steps and we will go back in time to an era of censorship and discrimination.”
*The names of some of the people who have been interviewed have been changed for confidentiality.
By Anna Alandete
24/11/2021
Very well portrayed! I am not Murcian but I am highly concerned for them and for our collective welfare.
I really liked the point about 'serving'. It is absolutely true, public administrations are there (paid and supposedly voted by us) to ensure our prosperity and to defend our rights. Therefore, laws should be put in place for social purposes, and not against people.