The Bavarian government’s gender ban decree has provoked mixed reactions. “Not less, but more diversity would be an important sign in Bavaria,” criticizes the queer representative of the Bavarian Youth Ring (BJR), Patrick Wolf.
In the future, employees in state authorities and teaching staff at schools and universities in Bavaria will no longer be allowed to use special characters. For this purpose, the general rules of procedure (AGO) for authorities will be changed. The cabinet of Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) decided this on Tuesday.
On the same day, the BJR presented a study called HAY (How are you?). According to Patrick Wolf, this shows that LGBTIQA* people are highly affected by experiences of discrimination and violence in almost all areas of life. “Therefore, a more sensitive and up-to-date approach to our German language would be even more important,” he told the Evangelical Press Service.
The German Teachers’ Association, however, welcomed the ban. In all official language, it is always about making it clear that all people are meant and not just individual groups, said association president Stefan Düll of the German Press Agency: “Misunderstanding formulations should therefore be avoided as a matter of principle. It’s about respectful formulations, who are therefore also gender-sensitive without marking it as such. The asterisk can ultimately be understood as exclusionary.”
When the ban was announced, State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) justified it, among other things, by saying that an “ideology-driven” gender language narrows the space for discourse. There is a risk that people who use gender-inclusive language will be seen as humane and those who don’t will be seen as “on the dark side”. Such language should not create any moral pressure, “only when I say something like that do I say it correctly.”
Teachers and school principals also have to adhere to the new rules of procedure in templates and correspondence, said Herrmann. In addition, the Ministry of Culture will change the regulation for learning materials so that no school books that use gender language will be ordered. However, students are allowed to gender. You would not be given any demerit points for this, said Herrmann.
There are no uniform rules for this topic in Germany. The federal states themselves are responsible for education and schools. There is always controversy about this at the state level. In Hesse, for example, the new black-red state government agreed to stipulate that gendering with special characters will be avoided in public administration and other state and public institutions such as schools, universities and broadcasting.
According to a statement, Simone Fleischmann, the President of the Bavarian Teachers’ Association (BLLV), supports the cabinet decision. However, she restricts that she would have “wanted more self-determination and corresponding freedoms for the local schools.” However, “feared further bans” did not materialize.
Dominik Krause (Greens), Second Mayor of the state capital Munich, criticized the cabinet decision. He posted a statement on social media that said: “The CSU is becoming more and more of a ban party. We have big problems in Bavaria, but Mr. Söder talks more often about #gender than about affordable housing.” Krause continued: “I think we should loosen up a bit when it comes to gendering. Anyone who wants to gender should do it, and anyone who doesn’t should just leave it alone.” The CSU is waging a “culture war”.
Florian Kraus, city school councilor in Munich and also a member of the Greens, emphasized in a written statement that “for the city administration and thus also for the city schools outside of class, it is not the requirements of the AGO, but the general business instructions of the state capital of Munich (AGAM ) are relevant”.
This stipulates that in internal and external communication “attention must be paid to gender-differentiated approaches and, if necessary, to a target group-specific approach”. “Against this background,” says Kraus, “I would like to encourage city school principals to continue to incorporate the idea of tolerance and anti-discrimination into their language and lessons.” The gender asterisk may have been placed as a deliberate provocation.