State Department Defends Cable Urging Staff to Avoid Gendered Terms Like ‘Father’: ‘Standard Government Practice’

A Department of State spokesman is defending a recent internal cable that urged staffers to avoid using gendered language like “brave men and women,” calling the memo “standard government practice” simply meant to “encourage people to just to be respectful.”

The subject of the February 5 cable, signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and first obtained by National Review, was “Modeling DEIA: Gender Identity Best Practices.”

The cable warned that making assumptions about another person’s gender identity based on their appearance or name “can be problematic” and that “misgendering” can send a “harmful, exclusionary message.”

It instructed State Department employees to use “gender-neutral language whenever possible.” Instead of using terms like “manpower,” “you guys,” “ladies and gentlemen,” or even “mother/father,” “son/daughter,” or “husband/wife,” it is better to say “labor force,” “everyone,” “you all,” and “parent,” “child,” or “partner,” according to the cable.

“When speaking, avoid using phrases like ‘brave men and women on the front lines,” the cable adds, even though Blinken himself, in a Veteran’s Day post on X, honored “the brave men and women who served our country.” The cable suggested that staffers “use more specific language such as ‘brave first responders,’ ‘brave soldiers,’ or ‘brave DS agents.’”

The cable also suggested that State Department staffers identify their pronouns in their email signatures and when introducing themselves. It said “ze/zir” are commonly used pronouns.

The cable was sent to staffers just days after the U.S. launched dozens of strikes against Iranian-backed militants in retaliation for the killing of three American soldiers.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller discussed the memo during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“If you look at the memo, as I have done, it’s a standard government practice to try to encourage people to just be respectful of others, and use the terms with which others are comfortable, and to talk to people they way they would like to be addressed. And nothing more than that,” he said.

Miller also said that just because the memo had Blinken’s name on it doesn’t necessarily mean that it came directly from the secretary. “When it comes to these types of cables, they all come out with the secretary’s signature on it,” he said. “That’s the standard department practice, has been for years. It doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a memo from the secretary himself.”

While Miller downplayed the cable, it appears to be part of an ongoing effort by Blinken and other Biden administration leaders to inject woke, left-wing identity-based activism into the federal bureaucracy.

In recent years, the State Department has hired a chief “diversity and inclusion officer,” appointed a “special representative for racial equity and justice,” and named a “special envoy to advance the human rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Persons.” The department has also announced a third gender marker on passports for people who don’t identify as male or female; planned a ten-day after-hours event to educate staffers about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility topics; and mandated that U.S. diplomats “advance” DEI as part of the criteria for promotions.