- Gender opponents start another petition
The Hamburg initiative "Stop Gender Language in Administration and Education" takes the next step towards a referendum with another petition drive. From Thursday, opponents of "gender" have three weeks to collect the approximately 66,000 signatures needed for a citizens' initiative. Support has been possible by mail to the District Office North since mid-June.
To gather enough supporters during the holiday season, signatures will also be collected at train stations and the airport, the initiative announced. "If politics has ensured that our citizens' initiative falls right in the middle of the summer holidays, we will of course collect signatures especially where we meet people with their vacation luggage," said initiative trustee Jens Jeep.
The initiative failed with an application for postponement of the collection in court at the beginning of July. It aims to ensure that the Hamburg administration, educational institutions, and municipal companies refrain from using gender asterisks and double colons.
In the law proposal submitted by the initiative, the Senate is to instruct these institutions to ensure that German official, written, or electronic communication and publications are carried out in accordance with the official regulations recommended by the Council for German Orthography.
The referendum could take place parallel to the federal election
Last summer, the gender opponents successfully launched their citizens' initiative by handing in 16,000 signatures at the town hall. According to Hamburg's citizens' law, the citizens' initiative is now the second step in the procedure, as the parliament did not agree to the law proposal. If the approximately 66,000 signatures are collected by 28 July, the way to a referendum is clear. Then, Hamburg residents could vote on it at the same time as the federal election next September.
The initiative aims to halt the use of gender asterisks and double colons in the Hamburg administration, educational institutions, and municipal companies, primarily focusing on German official communication and publications. If successful, the referendum could potentially impact how these institutions conduct their communications and publications.
