Erfurt (dpa/th) - After the adoption of a CDU motion against gender-fair language with the help of the AfD, scientists at the University of Erfurt reacted with concern. "One of the foundations of a cosmopolitan society that is committed to the fundamental and civil rights of all people is to make all people linguistically visible in their gender identities and to be able to address them," write the researchers in an open letter that they distributed on Tuesday. This is unacceptably restricted by the requests to the President of the State Parliament.
The CDU application states, among other things, that the President of the State Parliament should ensure that "no grammatically incorrect gender language is used" in internal and external parliamentary correspondence, in publications and in public relations work.
The letter was signed by 145 scientists. Among them is the Erfurt professor for health communication, Cornelia Betsch, who became known nationwide as an expert in the corona pandemic.
"It would be even more fatal if the state government tried to intervene in the freedom of teaching and research at the universities with language policy measures," write the scientists. This is also required in the application.
Gender-appropriate language is about gender-conscious language use that is intended to express the equal treatment of all genders and identities. Gender asterisks, colons, underscores or short pauses in speech are used, among other things.
In the letter, the researchers also expressed concern that the CDU application was approved with votes from the AfD and the "Bürger für Thuringia". This is a violation of the principle of not cooperating with parties designated as extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
