Democrats made no excuses Sunday about a provision in the House rules package that honors “all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.”
The familial terms father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, grandson, and granddaughter are to be replaced with gender-neutral terminology in the 117th Congress, according to the rule.
Instead, the terminology for these family relations are to be referred to as: “parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild.”
Republicans jumped on the Democratic gender-neutral pronoun rule with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeting, “This is stupid. Signed, – A father, son, and brother.”
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy pointed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Twitter profile, where she describes herself as a mother and a grandmother.
“The @HouseDemocrats put forward a rules package prohibiting gender-specific terms…someone should notify @SpeakerPelosi…,” Roy tweeted.
“The deal is in the House rules, from many years ago, it just referred to men. And we’ve changed that. The bottom line is the rules of the House ought to reflect the reality here. So whether it’s in terms of ethics issues, or any other legislation, it ought to cover everybody,” Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the Rules Committee, told the Washington Examiner.
McGovern added, “Chip Roy can put on his social media whatever he wants. He can say on the floor whatever he wants. We’re talking about the actual rules of the House. That’s all, and so I think they’re looking to create a culture war where none exists, but it’s really kind of pathetic.”
Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline defended Pelosi, telling the Washington Examiner, “Some are saying your mother, grandmother is not inconsistent with gender identity. So look, I think gender neutrality means that those positions are available to people of different genders, and I think that’s a good thing.”
The rules package will also mandate that committees include a directive to discuss “how committee work over the forthcoming Congress will address issues of inequities on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or national origin,” as well as make permanent the recently established Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which exists to diversify the Capitol workforce.
