In order to continue riding on the woke train, the Berkeley, California municipal code is changing to gender-neutral language, and we can blame a millennial for this debacle. The youngest member of the Berkeley City Council is 23 years old and a graduate of UC Berkeley. Rigel Robinson been in office since last November. He sponsored the ordinance that will transform “manhole covers” to … “maintenance covers.” No, really:

“Gender-neutral language creates a lot of room to acknowledge that it’s not just men running the country,” said council member Rigel Robinson, who sponsored the ordinance.

Robinson submitted a request in March to the city manager for a plan to adjust Berkeley’s code to reflect gender-neutral language and add space on city forms for preferred pronouns. The council voted to approve the city manager’s draft to amend the code, while the process for updating forms is still ongoing, Robinson said.

You will be made to deny that human beings are of two specific genders. The party of science is blinded by its own political correctness.

Here are some of the changes: brother and sister are now siblings, a repairman is a repairer, an ombudsman is ombuds or investigating official, and sportsmen are now hunters. There will be no more pregnant women, only pregnant employees. Fraternal changes to social. You get the point. The changes amount to more than two dozen in total. The measure passed unanimously.

Personal pronouns change from “he”, “she”, “him” and “her” to “they” and “them”. It sounds as though the plan is to do away with individuals and only acknowledge groups. The pronoun change was made in February, allowing preferred pronouns to be on name badges.

City officials say the changes made to city forms will cost $600.00.

My first thought, as with probably most readers, was is this the most important topic in front of the Berkeley City Council? The young councilmember (see, I didn’t use councilman) noted that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. “We’re not just looking at symbolic things.” I see he admits it’s just a symbolic gesture.

Berkeley loves to put a ban into place. The city doesn’t much value personal freedom, it seems.

Berkeley was the first U.S. city to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in 1977. The city already prohibits plastic straws and bags and approved a law earlier this year that would require food establishments to charge a 25-cent fee on single-use cups starting in 2020.

The bottom line is that Mr. Robinson wants the general population of his city to remain living in the safe spaces of a college campus. He points to his time on campus as his justification of pushing this change. Public policy is now all about feelings, you know.

“Awareness and issues of gender identity are often particularly visible on college campuses, but it’s important that it doesn’t stay there,” Robinson said. “I’m a cisgender heterosexual male — in many ways these issues don’t affect me. I’ve gotten to know so many people for whom these issues are important, largely through the campus community.”

Tonight, Berkeley City Council adopted first reading of an ordinance responding to my proposal revising the municipal code to include gender neutral pronouns. There is power in language. This is a small move, but it matters. #berkmtg https://t.co/njo58NYgNw

— Rigel Robinson (@RigelRobinson) July 17, 2019

The Berkeley City Council is messing with my husband’s favorite engineer joke. Here is the joke: Why are manhole covers always round? Answer: So they won’t fall in. My husband, an engineer, loves that joke and tells it to whoever will listen to it. Engineers chuckle at it, as do those who were good in geometry class. I’ve heard him subject friends, service people, waitstaff, medical professionals, and any number of random people over the course of our thirty plus years together. He’s the math nerd in the house, not me. I studied political science. Will the new language in California get the same results with his joke?