Warrant article calling for gender-neutral terms will appear on Town Meeting agenda

Feb. 17, 2021 by Carol Britton Meyer

After doing its research, the Hingham League of Women Voters submitted a citizen's petition for this year's Town Meeting warrant calling for amending the town's general by-laws to include gender-neutral terms.

The League believes such changes are in the best interest of the town, supporting equity for all citizens, elected officials, and staff.

Another reason for the proposed changes is "to recognize the efforts of many women who have and continue to contribute to civic life in Hingham," LWV member Liza O'Reilly explained during last night's remote selectmen's meeting.

If the article gains Town Meeting support, Hingham will join more than 90 other Massachusetts communities who now use the term "select board."

Cohasset, Scituate, and Wellesley switched to using that term in 2020, and Milton and Scituate made that same change along with all gender-neutral terms, which is what the LWV is proposing for Hingham.

Hull is also considering making similar changes this year, subject to approval at its own annual Town Meeting.

If the article passes in Hingham, the words "board of selectmen" and "selectmen" would be deleted wherever they appear and replaced with the words "select board," "members of the select board," or "select board members" and "member of the select board" or "select board member" if singular.

The word "chairman" would be changed to "chair" or "chairperson," and the words "he" and "she," "his" and "hers," and "him" and "her" wherever they appear in the general by-laws would be replaced with the words "they," "their," or "them."

The citizen's petition also calls for the word "He" where it appears in Section 2 and 3 of Article 6 (Town Clerk) of the town's general by-laws of the Town of Hingham to be replaced with the words,  "The Town Clerk."

The warrant article calls for the above changes to be made in all currently active Town of Hingham communications and documents such as policies, regulations, and rules "where reasonably practical" and in all future town communications and documents.

Where it is not reasonably practical to change terminology that is not gender-neutral, "such documents shall be interpreted to impute gender-neutral terminology," the warrant article reads.

Town Meeting has the final say. If approved, state attorney general approval is required as it is to uphold all affirmative Town Meeting votes.

Should that happen as expected, town boards and committees would adopt the changes and review their own policies; the town administrator would communicate these changes to staff; and the superintendent of schools to the school department.

"A cooperative effort is implied," O'Reilly said. "There is no specific deadline or penalty."

Selectman Joseph Fisher noted that if the changes come about, "when you start using the word 'they' instead of 'he' or 'she,' the verb that goes along with that will no longer make sense [i.e., when changing the wording from 'he' says to 'they' says -- so it would need to read 'they say'], because you'd be using the pronoun 'they' to refer to a singular person. . . . I assume we won't be reprimanded by the English teachers at the high school!" he quipped.

Selectmen Chair Mary Power said there's still time to address "any unintended consequences."

She recalled when she ran for office in 2016 a child reading her campaign sign and asking, "'Why does your sign say 'selectman' when you are a woman?' I didn't have a very good explanation then, nor do I now," Power said. "I'm grateful for the League for bringing this forward."

Power said while she's a member of the Hingham LWV, she wasn't involved in the development of the article.

Selectman candidate Michelle Larned was on the line and noted, "The word 'they' is used consistently throughout our language as a singular pronoun, as when someone says, 'A person left their sweater in the movie theater,' so I don't think the English teachers will come after us for that!"

The suggestion was also made that for instance, if an individual were about to receive an award, they could be asked which pronoun he or she prefers.

While the board's vote was unanimously in favor of the warrant article, there was a requirement attached for the advisory committee to ensure that the language in the article is grammatically correct and consistent with the recommendations made in the LWV's proposed article.

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