NBC News reported that on Tuesday, the city council adopted a first reading of a new ordinance which removes “gender preference language” from Berkeley’s municipal code. NBC also reported that city council member Rigel Robinson, the youngest member of the council, orchestrated the new ordinance.
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Instead of “manhole,” city code must now say “maintenance hole.” Instead of “brother” or “sister,” city code must now say “sibling.” Instead of “manpower,” city code must now say either “human effort” or “workforce.”
City code will no longer say “manmade,” either. It must now be replaced with “human-made,” “artificial,” “manufactured” (wait a minute – MANufactured?), “machine made,” or “synthetic.”
Some of the word changes stretch into the odd. For example, the word “master” must be replaced with one of the following: “captain,” “skipper,” “pilot,” “safety officer,” or “central.” The word “ombudsman” must be replaced with “ombuds” or “investigative official.”
And some of the changes are ridiculously burdensome. “Male” and “female” becomes “people of different genders.” “Men or women” become “a single gender.” Those offering the defense, “The masculine pronoun includes the feminine,” must now say “words referring to a specific gender may be extended to any other gender.” – READ MORE