LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One of Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ first acts as governor of Arkansas was to ban most state agencies from using the genderless term Latinx, tapping into a debate that has divided Hispanics along generational lines.
Sanders called the word «culturally insensitive» in an order that prompted complaints from some critics who see it as another attack by Republicans on the LGBTQ community. However, his move may have limited impact, given that the word does not appear to be widely used in the Arkansas government.
It was among several requests the 40-year-old man former White House press secretary signed within hours of taking office that was hailed by conservatives, including restrictions on the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and a ban on TikTok on state devices. The Latinx ban gives agencies 60 days to review written materials to comply.
“One of the things that as governor I will not allow is for the government to use culturally insensitive words,” Sanders said as she signed the order.
Sanders’ order adds to the debate over a word that has found little widespread support among Latinos and even sparked backlash from some Democrats. It comes as Republicans have tried to unite around the issues of the culture war. They are also looking to gain a foothold among Latino voters, but did not reach major changes some in the party hoped in last year’s elections.
The term Latinx was coined in recent years as a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina, since all nouns in Spanish are gendered. Many in the Latino LGBTQ community have embraced the word, but it has been slow to catch on, with some Latino figures saying the term is unnecessary.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights group in the US, announced in 2021 that it would no longer use the term Latinx. The group declined to comment on Sanders’ order.
Democratic US Representative Rubén Gallego of Arizona also said that his staff were not allowed to use the term in official communications that year.
“When Latino politicians use the term it is largely to appease wealthy white progressives who think that is the term we use,” Gallego tweeted in 2021.
Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT members of the party, praised Sanders’ order.
«The term Latinx is just another misnomer of the modern left’s relentless obsession with removing gender from American life, an obsession LGBT conservatives battle daily,» said Charles Moran, the group’s president, in a statement. .
Sanders’ order does not apply to the state’s institutes of higher education or other state agencies deemed constitutionally independent, such as the Arkansas Department of Transportation. It also allows the Governor to grant speaking exemptions.
Several state agencies said they were reviewing their forms to make sure they were in compliance. Health Department spokeswoman Meg Mirivel said two positions that had been unofficially called Latinx public information coordinator and Latinx outreach coordinator will continue to work with the Latino community, but will no longer list Latinx in their titles.
Sanders is not the first governor to ban or restrict the use of certain words. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill last year in New York removing the word «incorrigible» from state education law, a term that critics had called sexist and racist.
In 2015, then Florida Governor Rick Scott was criticized after former officials said they were instructed not to use the terms «climate change» and «global warming.» Scott, a Republican now serving in the Senate, denied banning the terms.
Critics of the Sanders order have said that the fact that the term is not universal among Spanish-speakers does not mean that its use is insensitive.
“Language is constantly evolving,” said Manuel Hernández, director of the Latino LGBTQ Association of Latinos/as/xs Motivating Action. “We don’t speak Old English. I have never met someone who says ‘you’”.
Hernández called Sanders’ order «an attempt to erase» the Latino LGBTQ community.
Sanders signed the order the day after Arkansas lawmakers began a session that already included proposed new restrictions for the LGBTQ community. A bill would be classify drag shows as adult-oriented businessesand another would ban transgender people from using bathrooms in K-12 schools that align with their gender identity.
Sanders has also said he would support legislation similar to florida law that prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Critics have called it the «Don’t Say Gay» law.
Sanders’ executive order banning Latinx cites a 2020 report from Pew Research Centerwhich found that 1 in 4 Hispanics in the US have heard the term “Latinx”, but only 3% use it.
Age is an important factor. Hispanics ages 18 to 29 are six times more likely than previous generations to have heard of the term: 42% compared with 7% for those 65 and older, Pew found.
Their popularity has risen since 2016, but remains below Latina, Latina and Hispanic, according to the report.
“If you are trying to categorize a community with the term that they are apparently rejecting or in some cases openly hostile to, it makes sense that that term would, in essence, go the way of the dodo, which Latinx seem to have done,” said Fernand Amandi, Chairman of Bendixen & Amandi, a multilingual public opinion research firm.
Among those who use the term is Ángel Castillo Reyes, a 21-year-old non-binary student at the University of Arkansas who uses the pronouns they/them. Castillo Reyes uses Latinx and “latino,” another gender-neutral term that has been used by some in the Latino community to describe his ethnic identity.
“I appreciate those terms because I know it doesn’t come from a feeling of wanting to divide,” Castillo Reyes said. «It comes from the sense of wanting to unite.»
Conversations with older Latinos about gender neutrality can be difficult, Castillo Reyes said. Her parents, who are evangelical Pentecostal Christians, find the terms «ridiculous.»
Castillo Reyes criticized Sanders’ order as unnecessary, but said she thinks it will provide an opportunity to discuss the need for gender-neutral terms with a broader community.
“Now that I know that Spanish can be used in an inclusive way, it’s like, ‘Wow, I never thought this was possible,’” they said.