Lula Signs Law Banning the Use of Gender-Neutral Language in Public Administration

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has signed a law prohibiting the use of gender-neutral language by federal, state, and municipal government agencies and entities. The measure is part of the National Policy of Plain Language, which aims to help citizens ‘find, understand, and use public information’ more easily. The law was published in the Official Gazette on Monday.
Among the criteria established to promote ‘communication between public authorities and citizens’ is ‘not to use new forms of gender and number inflection of Portuguese words, contrary to established grammatical rules, the Spelling Vocabulary of the Portuguese Language (Volp), and the Orthographic Agreement of the Portuguese Language.’
Gender-neutral language is a variation of the grammatical norm used by agender (who do not identify with any gender) and non-binary (who do not identify only with the male or female gender) groups. It involves using the letter ‘e’ in nouns, instead of ‘a’ or ‘o,’ and pronouns ‘elu,’ ‘delu,’ ‘ile,’ and ‘dile.’
According to the text, the law also aims to reduce administrative costs and time spent on service activities, promote transparency, and facilitate public participation. Simple language is considered ‘a set of techniques aimed at clear and objective transmission of information, so that the words, structure, and layout of the message allow citizens to easily find the information, understand it, and use it.’
In addition to gender-neutral language, the law provides, among other things, that public administration should use short and straightforward sentences, common words, avoid foreign words, and not use derogatory terms. It is also recommended to avoid redundancies, preferably write sentences in the active voice and ‘organize the text so that the most important information appears first.’
‘In cases where official communication is intended for indigenous communities, in addition to the text version in the Portuguese language, a version in the language of the recipients should be published, whenever possible,’ the text emphasizes.
Criticism of gender-neutral language dates back to the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro when it was used at Lula’s ministers’ inaugurations. The linguistic construction was included in ceremonies at ministries such as Finance, Human Rights and Citizenship, Culture, Women, and the General Secretariat of the Presidency and Institutional Relations.
In January 2023, during the first month of Lula’s new term, Agência Brasil, a media outlet of the government’s official communication, drew criticism from Bolsonaro supporters after using gender-neutral language in a news report. In an article about a meeting of new LGBTQIAP+ politicians, the agency referred to the group as ‘elected parliamentarians,’ replacing the masculine article with the adjective.
After the incident, Federal Deputy José Medeiros (PL-MT) even contacted the Office of the Attorney General to prevent official channels from adopting the linguistic variation. According to Medeiros, the use ‘violates the Portuguese language and family rights.’ However, last year, President Lula was upset upon seeing videos of the National Anthem interpreted in gender-neutral language at a rally for then-São Paulo mayoral candidate Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), now Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency. Lula attended the event only after aides at the Planalto Palace showed him edited clips circulating on social media.
The negative backlash, due to the alteration of the phrase ‘dos filhos deste solo’ to ‘des filhes deste solo,’ was deemed an unnecessary episode by the president. Days later, Boulos’s campaign deleted the broadcast where the interpreter altered the Anthem, and he even described the change as ‘absurd.’