The mayor of Berlin severely criticized. It's all about linguistic inclusiveness
Kai Wegner has been mayor of Berlin since April. The conservative politician stated that he would not use gender-neutral language. He has faced harsh criticism from his opponents.
Gender-neutral language is a language that avoids grammatical forms that indicate gender. It helps non-binary people to express themselves.
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"Everyone should speak as they please in private"
Kai Wegner explained his reluctance to use gender-neutral language by the fact that not everyone would be able to understand what he has to communicate.
"I have yet to sign a letter in gendered language [gender-neutral language]. What’s important to me is that the administrative language is comprehensible. Everyone can speak as they like in private, but I want to speak the German that I learned in school and that everyone understands," he said in the interview for Bild.
In addition, the mayor of Berlin stressed that he wanted newcomers to Berlin to have no problem understanding the administrative language. He stated that the German language is inherently complicated, so there is no need to make it even more difficult with political correctness.
Berlin mayor faced criticism
A fierce wave of criticism fell on the mayor. Political opponents said that Kai Wegner does not want to include all city residents in the administrative language. They called him disingenuous, as he had previously had no plans to abandon gender-neutral language.
The conservative politician has taken criticism from opponents and Berliners to his heart. In an interview with Tagesspiegel, he has already said that he has no intention of banning gender-neutral language in the city hall. However, he stressed that he personally would not use it.
"Everyone is free to speak as they like, but I for one will continue to write as I learned to do in school. For this reason I have not and will not sign a letter sent from my senate chancellery in gendered language," he said in the interview.
Source: theguardian.com
