A bill in Utah that would make the state's constitutional language gender-neutral cleared a Senate committee Tuesday by a unanimous vote.

The legislation would remove all gender references in the state constitution, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Language such as “husband” and “wife” would be replaced with “spouse,” while “man” and “he” would be removed in favor of “person” or “they.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“There are 237 sections of our Utah Constitution,” bill sponsor State Sen. Deidre Henderson (R) told the newspaper. “This bill amends six of them that are written out of alignment with the rest.”

The legislation cleared its first hurdle Tuesday, with unanimous approval from the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee.

The measure now heads to the full Senate, where it must pass with a two-thirds majority before being sent to the House.

To become law, the bill must also receive a majority of the vote from residents in the 2020 general election.