Recommendation to direct City Attorney to prepare a resolution to declare an Inclusive Language Policy for all future Long Beach Municipal Code ordinances presented to the City Council, as well as for future City Council Policies and ballot proposals for City Charter amendments; and Direct City Attorney to prepare an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code to state that all gender references in the Code shall be considered neutral and inclusive in form and context. (Citywide)
And trying to cue cue into my own here, taking some time. Okay, let's go to item 35. Item 35 Communication from Councilwoman Allen. Councilwoman Sorrell Recommendation to direct City Attorney to prepare a resolution to declare an inclusive language policy for all future ordinances. And to prepare an ordinance to state that all gender references in the Long Beach Municipal Code shall be considered neutral citywide. Thank you, Councilwoman Allen. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And thank you, Councilman Ciro, for your partnership on this item. And also just want to give a special thank you to Tonia Medrano. MARTIN For all of her hard work on developing and bringing this bring all the stakeholders together. While it's wonderful to receive a perfect score with 11 bonus points from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Media and Municipal Equality Index, we know that there is more work to do. We did receive letters of support from California Commissioner Ricardo Lara, State Senator Lena Gonzalez, Equality California, the LGBTQ caucus and California legislator, the LGBTQ attorneys section at the Long Beach Bar Association. Long Beach Pride. The in Long Beach, the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach and the Trans Latin Coal Line Coalition. This item is about inclusion and representation. About acknowledging that trans people exist and have a right to exist. Removing gender language from future ballot measures and harnesses take away nothing from many of us. But it means so much to trans and gender non-binary binary residents. Small steps like this that recognize the humanity of all of us can put an end to the culture of violence against trans and non-binary communities that persist in America today. Long Beach has been long recognized as an inclusive and welcoming city to all. And tonight we can become even more so and provide a place of refuge for those. Made unwelcome and other corners of our nation. Thank you to my colleagues for supporting this item. It may be late in coming, but it's never too late to ensure that our LGBTQ community feel seen, heard and understood. Thank you. Councilman Sorrell. Thanks, Vice Mayor, and thank you to Councilwoman Allen for leading on this item. And first, you know, I just I don't know if people heard because everyone was leaving as Councilmember Allen was talking about the item. But yesterday, our great mayor announced that for the 10th consecutive year, Long Beach has been recognized as the best city in the country when when it comes to LGBT. Q Plus inclusion. And so we've not only achieve a perfect score, but we're granted an additional 11 points in the Human Rights Campaign, Municipal Municipal Equality Index. And so I also want to reiterate my thanks to the support of organization and individual for partnering with us on this, which is the state of California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara State Senator Leading Gonzalez The State of California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, Equality California Bar Association, LGBTQ Attorneys, Long Beach Pride, LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, the Trans Latin Coalition and Trans Family Support Services and LGBTQ advocates in huge thanks to Tanya martin for bringing this item forward. And so I just want to make sure that we take this opportunity to recognize this monumental, huge step in supporting our transgender and non-binary residents. So as a as a strong and cemented ally and deeply disturbed by the stigma that our transgender and non-binary people face surrounding who they are from an early age and also when they decide to transition later in life. So I just want to share a really brief story about a transgender woman I met when I was a research summer fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. And her name is Tatiana. She was transitioning from male to female, and I had a chance to spend a lot of time with her and learn her story and meet her family. And she was a former bodybuilder that transition and really got exposed to the various challenges and stigma and mental health challenges that she face. And one of the things that stick with me, when I had moved back to go back to school this summer, and it was that she said, I hope you will do something for the transgender community. And I hope this is one of the steps I can take to honor my commitment when she asks me to do that . So with that, I just want to say how important language matters, and that language holds power. And the language of our law is especially important when reflecting the diversity of our great city and given the key role of language in shaping culture and social attitudes. Using gender inclusive language is a powerful way to promote gender equality and eradicate gender bias. And so by bringing this item forward, I just want to be very loud and clear that our transgender and non-binary binary community is being heard. And I see you and we hear you. And I hope to count on all our colleagues support on this item. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll just add my comments and we'll go to public comment. I want to thank both my colleagues, Councilwoman Allen and Sara. This is certainly, you know, if anything, if we know anything from our history is that we have to continue that to grow into change, to adapt and create a more, you know, a more inclusive society. And sometimes that means being, you know, evolving and how in how we speak and how we assign labels. And so we've taken this step already informally in many ways. I see this on, you know, signatures, a number of other things the city is doing, but taking a more formal action to say, let's make this a part of our muni code, I think is an appropriate step. And and I just support my colleagues for taking this step and formalizing this process. We'll go to public comment. We have two we have Paul Evans and Jordan Wynne. So the rationale for doing this is opposite of reality. There are only two genders, male and female. To think otherwise is an inaccurate belief that denies scientific reality. It is people who are confused about their gender that are having a hard time accepting who they are. This often leads to long term impacts on their mental health. We should be helping people who are confused about their gender, not normalizing it. We should embrace all people for who they are, male and female. Please reject this proposal. Thank you. Next speaker, please. With Jordan still here. Okay. Jordan is gone. Thank you. Members, please cast your vote.