What’s at Stake As States Ban the Term “Latinx”

As the political right bans books, lessons on critical race theory, instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, and student organizations on diversity and inclusion in a united attack on so-called woke culture, there is yet another prohibition on the horizon: the ban on "Latinx."

In January, just hours after being sworn in as the new governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order banning the term "Latinx" from official use in the state government. She called the identifier, which is commonly used to include transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming folks in the Latine community, "ethnically insensitive" and "pejorative language." Since then, more state governments have followed Sanders' lead, including in Connecticut where state representatives are pushing a bill that would bar the use of “Latinx” on government documents.

“‘Latinx’ is the latest scapegoat from the right to get people riled up and upset ‘wokeness’ or whatever the right likes to call it,” Maia Gil’Adi, an assistant professor of English at Boston University who specializes in Latinx and multiethnic literature, tells Refinery29 Somos. “What I think is happening is that people seem to be feeling really uncomfortable with the existence of trans people.” 

Gil’Adi draws a comparison between Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prohibits public school teachers from teaching the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade, and efforts across the country to ban the teaching of critical race theory. “The thing about banning critical race theory is that it’s not going to get rid of the fact that systemic racism is a real issue to this day,” she says. “Similarly, banning the word ‘Latinx’ in government documents is not going to make trans people disappear.” 

While bans like this won’t extinct trans communities, it can make their identities and experiences invisible to the state. By not recognizing trans Latines as constituents who deserve a voice, it could also block public funding for these communities and the issues they face. “We know for a fact that trans people of color have the highest suicide rates, the highest homelessness rates, and having that recognition by the government is actually important because it means funds can be allocated for these issues,” Gil’Adi adds. “This has material consequences on people, life-or-death consequences.”

Daniela Herrera, an equality, diversity, and inclusion consultant, agrees, adding that these bans undermine the identity and personhood of an already historically excluded group of individuals. She connects the ban to other anti-trans legislation that have been pushed in other states. “This is worrying, particularly now, when anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA policies are dramatically increasing and gaining momentum nationwide,” Herrera tells Somos. For her, the intentional banning of gender-inclusive language like “Latinx” sends “a clear and loud message of hostility, unwelcomeness, and exclusion.”

It’s important to note that it isn’t just non-Latine whites or even only Republican leaders attacking queer-inclusive language like “Latinx.” In Connecticut, the anti-Latinx bill’s chief sponsor is state Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr. – one of five Latine Democrats who are pushing the legislation through. Insisting that his motivations are unlike those of Republicans like Sanders, Reyes argues that “Latinx” is a “woke” term that is offensive to the local Puerto Rican population. He adds that “Latinx” is a term imposed by non-Latine white American scholars onto the Latine community and that the use of the “x” is not pronounceable in Spanish. “‘Latinx’ was clearly a solution that was proposed outside the Spanish-speaking world,” Reyes told NBC news, adding that “Latino” is already a gender-neutral default. 

But his case against “Latinx” sounds a lot like Sanders’ assertion of the word being  "ethnically insensitive" and "pejorative language” — and for actual trans Latines, both of their arguments are wrong and tired. According to Artist Marcia X, a nonbinary photographer and educator who has been participating in the online conversations about gender-neutral words in Spanish for the last decade, the argument against “Latinx” simply hasn’t progressed beyond the points made by Rep. Reyes. The same defense about how “x” is unpronounceable in Spanish and how “Latinx” is a white U.S. invention keep being recycled, despite many nonbinary people’s assertions that this is language they invented to describe and honor their genders. 

“It seems like the debate about gender-neutral language within the Latinx community has become a bit stagnant,” Artist Marcia X tells Somos. “I think it's safe to say and maybe a bit generalized, but a lot of the opinions against ‘Latinx’ are just homophobic in some way, due to people not wanting to maybe admit that queer people are very much a norm in society, have always been present, and are now carving spaces and changing the nature of our manner of speaking.”

They continue: “This definitely feels like the policing of queer bodies of color. The banning is just another technology of control, which as a method by the state isn’t really something that is novel.”

For Diane, a nonbinary first-generation Mexican living in the U.S., words like “Latinx” and “Latine” signify inclusion and acceptance of their queerness. “[Latinx and Latine] are words created by us,” they told Somos. “I'm nonbinary, but I am also Mexican, and that obviously molded who I am. Of course I want to have a way to identify that includes two big parts of who I am. I'm proud of being Latine.”

Even more, they see the gender-neutral term as a tool to challenge the colonial and patriarchal roots of the language. “We never used to have words to describe who we were, and language was also actively promoting patriarchy and colonialism,” Diane says. “I'd urge people to reach out from their own bubbles and try to learn from people with different identities – that's how empathy works.”

One thing’s for sure: Despite attempts to erase the existence of a whole marginalized demographic through the banning of gender-neutral language, nonbinary Latines aren’t going anywhere. They will continue to exist and advocate for themselves, no matter who they make uncomfortable, and on their own terms.

“I love the word ‘Latinx.’ I use it; I want others to use it,” Artist Marcia X says. “Fuck language up, make space for yourself, don’t wait for others to give it to you. It’s also not about representation for the sake of it, I think it is about finding ways to narrate your own story.”