The Student Government Association has officially introduced a “Pronoun Acknowledgement Bill” in their first meeting of the semester, aiming to further their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
If the bill passes, students in SGA will be required to display their pronouns in their Zoom name, along with referring to others using their preferred pronouns. If members refuse to do so or purposely misgender someone, they will face expulsion.
“I wanted to make sure that regardless of what administration takes over student government in the future, if it’s mostly conservative or republican, I want student government to always be a safe place for queer and trans and gender-nonconforming students in the organization,” said chief of staff and bill co-author Brett Bonneté.
The pronoun bill’s authors cited the University’s aspirations to be a leader of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as its Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award as part of the motivation behind it.
After the idea floating around for over a year, Bonneté decided the first official meeting of the spring semester was the best time to approach the Senate about the bill. Its first reading took place in front of mainly virtual SGA Senate members.
Bonneté hopes this bill will divert people who deliberately make transgender people uncomfortable stay away from joining SGA.
The co-author said they want to make student government a safe place for all, now and in the future, noting how severe the mental toll of misgendering an individual could be.
“The amount of psychological trauma that is inflicted on a trans person when they’re misgendered and when their identity is constantly questioned, is tremendous,” Bonneté said.
If the pronoun bill were to pass the Senate vote, it would need to gain a signature from the SGA president, who has the power to veto it.
“He can always veto our legislation. I’m kind of scared that it’s going to happen,” Bonneté said. If he vetoes it, we can go back and re-veto it in the Senate and then it will pass.”
Students like history sophomore Katherine Galland, think the bill has good intentions but could be harmful.
“I find it problematic that this bill is potentially forcing gender nonconforming, questioning people, or trans folk to out themselves if they’re not comfortable sharing the way that they identify,” Galland said. “The fact of the matter is that some people don’t feel safe to share that part of themselves in certain spaces.”
Other students like media production sophomore Aly Wilson, think it would be beneficial to them and other students if the bill is enforced.
“Having people use the correct pronouns for me has always been a struggle because I’m feminine presenting, and having pronouns visible to everyone would be a major help for me and other students who face the same struggle,” Wilson said.
The pronoun bill has been sent to committee and after any needed revisions have been made, will be up for a vote in one of the upcoming SGA meetings.
“UH stands for the protection of human rights and progress and change,” Bonneté said. “I want this to be a given truth, a truthful piece of legislation that sticks.”