Abstract
Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, this article analyzes Brazilian legislative bills that prohibit the use of nonbinary language in schools. Given the historical persecution of minoritized groups, we examine legal initiatives that attack nonbinary language as a "threat" to education and children.
Grammatical gender in Romance languages, including Portuguese, tends to be conflated with social gender. However, there are more possibilities for expressing one's identity than suggested by grammar norms. Using linguistic forms that reflect everyone's identities is a matter of human rights and educational justice. Thus, bans on the use of nonbinary forms prevent part of the population from participating fully in the society, including in educational opportunities.
We argue that the attack on nonbinary language actualizes a tradition of segregation that perpetuates power structures. We start our analysis discussing the persecution of different minorities throughout the 20th century. Then, we argue that bans on nonbinary language reinforce the persecution of minorities in the 21st century. Analyzing the rationale used in legislative bills proposed in several states in Brazil, we show how inclusiveness is portrayed as a menace to children. We finish our discussion with a reflection on lasting effects and real threats that the "rainbow scare" could bring to Brazilian society.