Editorial: Third Way’s the wrong way

The national Democratic Party has plenty of problems, as do several of the party’s potential candidates for president in 2028. But leave it to Third Way, a center-left think tank, to offer a flawed strategy by trying to be the word police. In order for Democratic candidates to be successful, the organization argues, certain words should not be uttered by candidates. It’ll be no surprise to Bay Area Reporter readers that some of those words reflect the LGBTQ community.

As Politico reported last month, Third Way “is circulating a list of 45 words and phrases they want Democrats to avoid using, alleging the terms put ‘a wall between us and everyday people of all races, religions, and ethnicities.’ It’s a set of words that Third Way suggests ‘people simply do not say, yet they hear them from Democrats.’”

The memo, “Was It Something I Said?” is addressed to “All who wish to stop Donald Trump and MAGA,” and continues, “Over the years we’ve conducted, read, and analyzed hours upon hours of focus groups, and we’ve yet to hear a voter volunteer any of the phrases below except as a form of derision or parody of Democrats.” And the folks at Third Way acknowledge that they’ve used some of the words themselves. “Finally, we are not out to police language, ban phrases, or create our own form of censorship,” the memo stated. “Truth be told, we have published papers that have used some of these words as well. But when policymakers are public-facing, the language we use must invite, not repel; start a conversation, not end it; provide clarity, not confusion.”

Some of the words, which are grouped into categories, we use in our communities all the time, because we have to. “Safe space,” for instance, appears in the “Therapy-speak” category. But LGBTQ people have long had to seek out such spaces because of rampant homophobia or transphobia. It’s not doublespeak for anything, we actually mean a place where queers feel safe, like a community center or event. “Centering” is another word in this category. But rather than say it repels some voters, Third Way ought to be issuing memos on why it’s important to center the trans community at an event for trans people, and not have cisgender people run it, for example.

Oops, that’s another word on the list: cisgender. While it may have started out as sort of a pejorative, these days, it’s actually a useful term to describe non-transgender people. We don’t take offense to it and others shouldn’t either.

Under “Organizer Jargon,” there’s housing insecurity and food insecurity, among other words, which actually mean exactly what you’d think – people who can’t afford housing or food.

But it is the “Gender/Orientation Correctness” category that really caught our eye. In addition to the aforementioned cisgender, the other words are: birthing person/inseminated person, pregnant people, chest feeding, deadnaming, heteronormative, patriarchy, and LGBTQIA+. “Standing up to MAGA’s cruel attacks on gay and transgender people requires creating empathy and building a broad coalition, not confusing or shaming people who could otherwise be allies,” Third Way stated.

There is one word on the list that we agree should be jettisoned: Latinx, which was offered as a gender-neutral descriptor several years ago. But it has never been widely accepted by many in the Hispanic and Latino or Latin communities. Moreover, it’s an English-based word that doesn’t follow Spanish grammar because the “x” is not a common Spanish ending. A better gender-neutral alternative is Latine, which follows Spanish linguistic rules and is preferred by some in Latin America.

Third Way’s memo stated that because people fear doxing or getting in trouble with human resources if they make a mistake, or they don’t know what the words mean, then the rest of us should stop using them in order to pacify them. That’s exactly the wrong approach. Instead, people should explain what the words mean and why they matter. There’s also the fact that Trump, many in his administration, and the MAGA faithful are in power right now, and, as we all know, Trump is very good at distracting the public from real problems to criticize “woke” America, whatever that means. But here’s the thing: advocating talking down to people, as Third Way does, and avoiding uncomfortable conversations because some people might not feel safe to disagree, is how we ended up in this mess in the first place.

Third Way has a point that buzzwords are often unhelpful. However, successful candidates already know that and have campaigned effectively. We would point out that many of the words on Third Way’s list are not buzzwords, and instead have evolved to allow for more nuanced conversation with some empathy. An incarcerated individual means just that. Likewise, with “person who immigrated.” We don’t need to stoop to the level of MAGA and use “illegal alien,” which has been out of fashion for years.

As national Democrats continue their hand-wringing over the 2024 election losses, try to figure out a way to fight back against Trump, and prepare for the 2026 midterm elections, there is much work to do. We don’t think a memo telling people what words to avoid is a top priority. The Democratic Party needs a wholesale makeover, with a focus on the economy, affordability, better jobs, more housing, and public safety. Candidates should stick to their own style of explaining these issues and their proposals. If that involves somebody being housing insecure, that’s fine. MAGA lovers aren’t going to vote for Democrats anyway. The key is to reach fellow disenchanted Democrats, including many in the Latin community, as well as independents, who hopefully will start to sour on Trump when the tariffs ruin their businesses. They’re facing many of the same problems as everyone else when it comes to employment and housing. Candidates can talk about that – and talk about how discrimination against transgender people is wrong, or how trans people face higher unemployment rates. The goal is to convey policies that can be implemented to help Americans.