Hispanic Connecticut Democrats Introduce Bill to Ban ‘Latinx’ from State Documents
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Hispanic lawmakers in Connecticut have proposed a new state law that would ban the term “Latinx” from government documents.
Democratic state representative Geraldo Reyes believes the term, which progressive activists have encouraged people to use as a gender-neutral version of “Latino” or “Latina,” is disrespectful.
“I’m of Puerto Rican descent and I find it offensive,” Reyes told the Associated Press, clarifying that the term was created by progressive ideologues and did not arise organically.
“The Spanish language, which is centuries old, defaults to Latino for everybody,” Reyes added. “It’s all-inclusive. They didn’t need to create a word, it already exists.”
Representative Reyes, the bill’s chief sponsor, was joined by four other Hispanic Democrats, all of whom are members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the Connecticut Legislature.
There has been increased momentum in recent months to curtail the term’s use, particularly amongst Hispanic Democrats. In 2021, representative Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) prohibited his staff from using Latinx on any official documents.
“When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use,” Gallego tweeted.
To be clear my office is not allowed to use “Latinx” in official communications.
When Latino politicos use the term it is largely to appease white rich progressives who think that is the term we use. It is a vicious circle of confirmation bias. https://t.co/kMty6q7UQn— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) December 6, 2021
The same year, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest community organization in the United States, declared it would no longer use Latinx. The term has also been rejected by Real Academia Española, a governing body that oversees the Spanish language.
While the term has been enthusiastically adopted by progressive academics and far-left activists, polling reveals it has not gained traction within the broader Hispanic population.
“The word Latino is incredibly exclusionary, both for women and for non-gender conforming people,” Maia Gil’adi, a professor at Boston University, told the AP. “And the term Latinx is really useful because of the way it challenges those conceptions.”
Pew research in 2019 found that only 3 percent of American Hispanics had used the word “Latinx,” with less than a quarter of the community aware of the term’s existence. Another survey conducted by ThinkNow found 60 percent of respondents either disliked or found it offensive.
In January, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a similar order denouncing Latinx as a “culturally insensitive” word that was to be stripped from many state agency documents.
