Rainbow rising in the judiciary.
In a move to benefit LGBTQIA people, Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo issued a memo reiterating the use of gender-fair language in all official documents, communication, and issuances in the judiciary.
Supreme Court Memorandum Circular No. 90-202 noted that while the use of gender-fair language is now being advocated in the judiciary through seminars and modules, as well as in the distribution of manuals and materials to court officials and court personnel, “some of the official documents, communications, and issuances of the judiciary still use sexist language.”
And so Chief Justice Gesmundo recapitulated SC Administrative Circular No. 82-2006 – itself adopting the CSC Memorandum Circular No. 12 s. 2005 – that encourages government employees and officials to avoid sexist terms and use gender-neutral language.
“Language is a very essential tool in communication. It articulates the consciousness, reflects culture, and affects socialization. Hence, the need to recognize the importance of transforming language from traditional usage to a more liberating one, that which is gender-sensitive,” Chief Justice Gesmundo writes in SC Memorandum Circular No. 90-202.
Chief Justice Gesmundo added that “since government employees and officials encounter gender issues everyday, the use of non-sexist language in preparing letters, memoranda, and other issuances will encourage them to make a conscious effort to avoid implicit and explicit discriminatory language against women or men. This, in turn, will help promote gender-sensitivity in the bureaucracy.”
