By Yvonne Marquez
As contentious as the word “Latinx” is, it has emerged as the most commonly used gender-neutral word for “Latino” in the United States. From politics to pop culture, “Latinx” has been used in an effort to be more inclusive of transgender and non-binary people who are of Latin American descent. However, there is a similar word that is gaining traction in the U.S. that goes further to address gender bias in the Spanish language: Latine.
James Lee, a 30-year-old gay man based in Houston, recently created an online resource called Call Me Latine to introduce the word and principles of using gender-nuetral language in Spanish to English-speaking and bilingual people based in the U.S.
The Spanish language is gendered, usually defined by words ending in the masculine form “o” and the feminine form “a.” In an effort to remove gender from the language, LGBTQ, non-binary, and feminist communities in Spanish-speaking countries began replacing the “o” or “a” with the gender-nuetral ending “e.” For example, mi amigo is changed to mi amigue or el niño is changed to elle niñe.
The letter “e” in Spanish is already used in both masculine and feminine words such as estudiante. Lee says that this makes it easier for Spanish speakers to understand and accept gender-neutral Spanish.
Within the past year, Lee, who works in government relations and policy for a local health provider, became frustrated by the frequent use of the word “Latinx” by non-Latino people in his field. The Latino population was at the forefront of many conversations regarding the Census and the presidential election. In these conversations, he noticed non-Latino people were the predominant users of the term “Latinx” and used it without understanding the complexities of the Latino community. “When presidential candidates and major academic institutions and even the media decide to term us as ‘Latinx,’ while the community itself has not yet fully adopted [the word], maybe that’s kind of a problem,” Lee says. “In the past, they’ve played a lot of influence in defining us. I think that we’re in a moment where people have got to listen. We’ve got to define ourselves.”
In September 2020, Lee channeled his frustration into a Facebook post about the word Latine, which he then shared with his friends. His post went viral with over 4,000 shares, thousands of likes, and dozens of comments. Other Latine people who felt similarly to Lee about the term “Latinx” started messaging him about how happy and excited they were to discover “Latine” as an alternative. For many, it was the first time they were able to share their identity with their Spanish-speaking parents and have them understand. “Sometimes queer identity within our culture is perceived as a white thing and therefore perceived as a threat,” Lee explains. “But the great thing for me, and people like me, is that Latine is an identity that originates in the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking countries. And as we explain the identity to our families, they understand suddenly, and it breaks down barriers, and it helps start a conversation that I think a lot of people have been struggling to have for the longest time.”
After seeing the impact of his Facebook post, Lee wanted to create a resource that others could reference in the future. He launched Call Me Latine in October 2020 as an online resource dedicated to addressing gender and heteronormative bias in Latino communities. The website and social media pages offer language resources on how to hold gender-neutral conversations in Spanish, gives an introduction to the meaning and idea behind Latine, and highlights queer, transgender, and non-binary Latines.
Lee grew up in Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, a region along the Texas-Mexico border with a predominantly Latine population. His family has lived in the region for generations, before it was even part of Texas, which led to his family enduring a history of discrimination for being Latine. His parents grew up in a time when they were punished for speaking Spanish at school.
Because of those experiences, Lee’s parents wanted him to assimilate and gave him a more white-sounding name and didn’t teach him Spanish—a language he’s had to learn as an adult. For him, identifying as “Latine” is part of reclaiming an identity that was taken from him. “I’m trying to reclaim a lost identity that was taken from me through the product of discrimination and through the history of imperialism within the borders of the United States,” he says.
Lee emphasizes that he’s not telling anyone how they should or should not identify with regards to using “Latinx” or “Latine.” He simply hopes Call Me Latine serves as a resource to have more conversations about the topic. “The substance of who we are and where these terms come from, whether ‘x’ or ‘e,’ is meant to highlight the struggles of queer, non-binary, and feminist communities in our culture,” Lee explains. “I’m hoping to move Call Me Latine in the direction of highlighting people in our culture from these three communities to give face to our issues and ideas and help people understand we’re more than just a word and that we are here and that we matter.”
For more information on Call Me Latine, visit their website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
