The left-wing majority in Zurich’s city parliament rejects the “Goodbye Gender Star” initiative. Now it’s up to the people to decide.
The citizens of Zurich are expected to decide on the gender star in municipal communications in the fall.
Illustration Simon Tanner / NZZ
Who is excluding whom here? And who is dividing society with their concerns? Language has become a battlefield of sensitivities – in Zurich politics at the latest in June 2022, when the city council passed a new regulation on linguistic equality.
At that time, the city government decided that from now on either the gender star or gender-neutral terms should be used in official texts.
Some say that the gender star is putting a corset on the administration. Hartmuth Attenhofer, former SP cantonal councillor and former governor of Zurich, thinks it is unacceptable for the city council to tell city administration employees “how they should write, talk and think”. Now we need to set an example. “Otherwise people will soon be told how they should do their hair.”
“Freedom fighters” on both sides
For Attenhofer, this is the reason why he supports the “Goodbye Gender Star” initiative, which was launched by Susanne Brunner, cantonal councilor and co-president of the city’s SVP. The city parliament debated it on Wednesday.
But the opponents of desire also present themselves as freedom fighters.
The SP has turned the tables and, in a statement on Wednesday, called the SVP the “language police” because it wanted to ban the use of the gender star in the administration.
In reality, it is about discrimination, says the SP. “According to the SVP, anyone who does not adapt has no place in society.” It should be noted that the initiative was not submitted by the SVP, but by a cross-party committee.
The statement from the social democratic city party speaks of a broad alliance of political parties and organizations such as the Zurich Pride Festival. Kim de l’Horizon is also opposed to the initiative, but will not appear in public. “I do not feel safe enough to physically oppose this initiative.” There are “systematic attempts by individuals and groups to push me out of the public sphere.” For this reason, Kim de l’Horizon is not available for further inquiries.
In the debate on Wednesday, the roles are distributed as follows: SP, Greens, AL and GLP are against the initiative and behind the gender star, SVP, FDP and Centre/EVP are for the referendum. “I don’t understand what the drama is supposed to be about,” said Ann-Catherine Nabholz (GLP). It is “a small adjustment” so that the language is a little less male-dominated and other parts of society become visible.
Nabholz says she sees it as a democratic duty of the state to ensure that every person feels addressed. In any case, companies have long been using the gender star and similar symbols, whether in advertising or in job advertisements.
Rating: Fascist
Anna-Béatrice Schmaltz (Greens) said it should be an absolute matter of course that language includes everyone. Inclusive language breaks down stereotypes. “It’s a real shame that the FDP and the center cannot stand by the queer community.” David Garcia Nuñez (AL) even went so far as to more or less blatantly label the initiative fascist.
Stefan Urech (SVP) disagreed. “We don’t care what gender you are or who you sleep with. But we do have something against educated elites who dictate how people should talk.”
And Përparim Avdili (FDP) said it was strange that the administration was not allowed to address the population as “Zürcherin and Zürcher”. According to surveys, a majority of people reject the gender star. “Not because people do not support inclusion. But because inclusion is not the task of language,” said Avdili.
In fact, the gender star is not viewed favorably by the population. This was shown, among other things, by a representatively weighted survey conducted by the GfS Bern research institute on behalf of the NZZ in 2023. Only 27 percent expressed sympathy for its use in public documents. Even in the cities, the figure was only 28 percent.
Susanne Brunner, the mother of the initiative, was sitting in the gallery during the council debate on Wednesday. She said: “It was the city council that politicized the language when it decreed the gender star. It should be its job to communicate correctly and understandably with the population.”
The claim by opponents of the initiative that it is directed against linguistic equality is false. This has long been anchored in the city of Zurich. Brunner refers to the text of the initiative. It speaks of “clear, understandable and readable” language from the authorities. This should dispense with special characters.
The symbol that is being discussed so fiercely has a turbulent history. The “asterískos”, the ancient Greek name for a small star, dates back to the Library of Alexandria as an editorial symbol.
The asterisk was used in the first programming language, which was created in the 1950s. It is still used as a placeholder in many programs today. From this IT cosmos, the asterisk has penetrated into today’s language usage.
At the beginning of the 2000s, however, the asterisk was not yet in use even within the trans community. Other forms such as the underscore were en vogue. It was only around a decade ago that its use became more established.
Whether he will remain in the city of Zurich will ultimately be decided by the voters at the ballot box – probably as early as this autumn.
