“Because of linguistic, language policy and legal problems”: No to the gender star at the highest level

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The Federal Council has its own language popes. You work for the “Central Language Services” of the Federal Chancellery and ensure that laws and administrative documents are formulated correctly.

A representative of this department is even a member of the Council for German Spelling, the highest spelling authority in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, East Belgium and South Tyrol.

The federal government is taking a stand

It was not yet known how the federal government would respond to the hot topic of gender stars. Now research by Blick shows: Bern voted in the Spelling Council against the gender-neutral symbol in the middle of the word: “The Swiss Federal Council has repeatedly stated that it does not consider the use of special characters to mark gender identity suitable for The issue is due to linguistic, language policy and legal problems to implement inclusive language use in federal texts.” This is stated in a document that Blick has seen with reference to the Public Information Act.

Specifically, in addition to the asterisk (citizens), it also includes the colon gender (citizens) and the corresponding underscore (citizens). According to Swiss language protectors, such spellings lead to “later grammatical problems”. The Federal Chancellery emphasizes: “We therefore reject the inclusion of this passage in the regulations: it creates additional confusion on a highly politicized subject.”

Various SVP initiatives in the Canton of Zurich

The SVP politician Susanne Brunner (52) can be happy. Her hometown of Zurich advertises on rubbish bins with the slogan: ‘You hit like a world champion.’

Last year, Brunner presented the initiative ‘Bye Gender Star!’ in. A. Next month the city council will decide whether to approve or reject the initiative.

Brunner also wants to be active at cantonal level. According to information from Blick, the SVP is examining a proposal that would examine the gender guidelines of universities and colleges in the canton of Zurich.

The language leaders of the Spelling Council also criticize academic gender. “The extent to which universities have the right to deviate from the official German spelling is controversial,” the council announced in December. Some German states now even want to ban gender in state institutions.

Source:Blick