Bostonians will no longer have to identify their sex or gender on marriage certificates, and city workers will operate under new guidance designed to better acknowledge varied gender identities, officials announced Tuesday.
The city launched "gender aware guidelines and standards" for a variety of services, aiming to promote more inclusive language and communication involving residents who identify as transgender or nonbinary, according to Chief of Equity and Inclusion Mariangely Solis Cervera.
City employees received new guidance on understanding when it's appropriate and necessary to inquire about a constituent's gender identity as well as standards outlining the best way to pose those questions and broach topics like pronouns and chosen names.
In a related step, City Hall on Tuesday began issuing marriage certificates without listing sex or gender for the involved parties.
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"A marriage certificate is a symbol of love and commitment. But unfortunately, for people like me, their certificate's outdated and narrow gender markers were a glaring reminder that our city still had a long way to go to acknowledging our existence," said Kimberly Rhoten, a city employee who identifies as nonbinary. "They were a subtle, yet powerful, message that our love, our relationships and our identities were somehow less valid and less recognized underneath the eyes of the law and the city of Boston."
