Not a lot of neutrality over Atkins' bill for gender-neutral language
By Matt Murphy
Lowell Sun, July 25, 2008
BOSTON -- State Rep. Cory Atkins said she has been caught completely off guard by all the fuss being made over a simple three-letter word.
The Concord Democrat is pushing a bill that would require all Massachusetts laws to be written with gender-neutral language such as he/she and his/her instead of always the masculine pronouns. The House gave its initial approval to the bill Wednesday and is expected to send it to the Senate in the coming days.
"It definitely surprises me when men think it's silly," Atkins said yesterday after some lawmakers criticized the bill as being a waste of time. "It's time to update and bring things into the 21st century. In mind, this was just a technical piece of legislation."
Not all of her colleagues, however, have been willing to let the bill quietly slip through.
"That's a lot of (expletive)," Republican state Rep. Robert Hargraves, of Groton, barked to The Sun yesterday. "Why should we do that? It's in the Bible. It's in the laws. 'He' is used as a generic term. Nothing is meant by it."
Hargraves said the Legislature has far more pressing concerns to worry about before the session ends next week than to waste time debating a bill about whether female pronouns should be used in state laws.
There is already a law on the books specifying that use of the pronoun "he" in legislation refers to both men and women.
"When people can´t afford to put gas in their tanks, it´s a matter of priorities. The needs of families are much more important than debating syntax," Hargraves said.
Atkins decided to file the bill last year after reading a piece of legislation impacting nurses that exclusively used the pronoun "he" to refer to the health-care providers.
"Not that men aren't nurses, but if women are invisible in a nursing bill, where are they mentioned?" Atkins said.
The bill is one sentence long, and Atkins said the House and Senate are not ignoring important issues by taking time needed to pass this piece of legislation.
"Rep. Hargraves and I disagree on many things, and they're probably generational and ideological disagreements, but I've never seen him as a champion for people's rights," Atkins said. "Women are 52 percent of the population. You see the stuff we do up here all the time. Women are just as important as 'Duck Day' or whatever special week it happens to be this week. Government isn't stopping for this to happen."
Atkins was referring to the many resolutions passed by the Legislature establishing days, weeks and months that recognize certain causes or people.
"I'm sure Rep. Hargraves meant no disrespect to women by the comments he's made thus far, but it is important that we respect the fact that women be referred to as she and I don't think this is something that is irrelevant," said Sheila Capone–Wulsin, executive director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus.
State Rep. James Miceli, D-Wilmington, said he hasn't given the issue much thought, but the conservative Democrat said he sees no harm in what Atkins is trying to do.
"Either way is fine with me," he said. "All I know is I haven't heard my wife or daughter giving me a hard time."
