Exciting news from Oxford, where moves are afoot to ensure that non-binary students, finally, may not have to suffer the humiliation and embarrassment of a Latin ceremony which includes gendered words. 

Oxford is set to make an 800-year-old Latin ceremony gender-neutral for the benefit of non-binary students.

The university has conferred its degrees in Latin since the 12th century, but the wording used could be changed to make it more inclusive.

Dons will vote on a proposal to change the Latin ceremonial text to cater to those “who identify as non-binary”.

In a gazette issued to alert faculties to the planned changes, the introduction of the first gender-neutral degree ceremony in Oxford’s almost 1,000-year history is deemed “necessary”.

The changes involve stripping a Latin message of congratulations of words that are grammatically gendered masculine or feminine.

This is what progress looks like. 

Next stop: removing gender from French (and Italian, and Spanish, and German…). They should've done it ages ago. How on earth do non-binary people cope in these ridiculous languages?

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