Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, who chairs the influential House oversight committee, called some of the ideas being voiced in Congress laughable in a Fox News commentary.
“Democrats are not fighting for the best jobs, they are not fighting for a secure border, they are fighting for an agenda to satisfy the far-left sentiment that is taking over the Democratic Party here in Washington. This is just another joke of the excessive influence of the extreme left of the government”, said the congressman.
On July 14, Democratic Rep. Julia Brownlee filed a bill amending the Marriage Equality Act to remove the terms “husband” and “wife” from several existing laws. She suggests replacing them with “gender-neutral words” like “spouse” or “married person.” She also suggested replacing the term “ex-wife” with “a person who was married, but is no longer married.”
“These words do not raise doubts among 98 percent of the population. They probably cause controversy among the two percent of the radical left that now leads the Democratic Party,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.
Republican Nancy Mays said in an interview with the television channel that the measure is an attempt to “erase femininity.”
“It’s the dumbest thing in the world,” he added.
“Why would someone do something that would cause controversy and not just call ‘my husband’ or ‘my wife’?” – said representative Chris Stewart.
Some government agencies and organizations in the US have been updating their language in recent years in favor of “gender neutrality.” For example, in June, the Portland, Oregon, Office of Equality and Human Rights proposed changing commonly used terms that they believe have “evolved.” Officials, in particular, proposed replacing “pregnant women” with “pregnant persons.”
