The GLBTRT ad hoc task force charged to comment on RDA's proposed coding of
gender in authority records submitted a response. The text of the response
is below.
***
This comment was submitted on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association.
The current instruction for proposed RDA rule 9.8.0.3.1, "Record the gender
with which a person identifies using am appropriate term from the list
below.
female
male
other
not known"
does not acknowledge the fluidity and variety of possible gender identity or
identities of an individual over time. It also does not address coding of
the variety of gender categories related to bibliographic identities, the
individuals who create them, and the relationships among them. (How, for
example, would we code George Eliot, a woman writing with a male name, or
Barbara Michael, a husband and wife writing novels together under one name?)
Furthermore, the limited number of possible values, and the language used
for those values is offensive to many people.
This Task Force recommends that RDA not prescribe any coding for gender, and
that further study be made of the issues of gender in the context of
resource identification and relationships between entities.
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