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Unlike Canada, Austrian parliament set to green light gender-neutral anthem

It seems Stephen Harper is gaining support in his attempt to make the national anthem gender-neutral. Unfortunately, for the prime minister, it's the Austrian national anthem.

A BBC News story reported leadership of the main political parties in the Austrian parliament agreed to change some of the text in their anthem.

Specifically, the phrase "Home of great sons, you are" is likely to be changed to "Home of great daughters, great sons".

After decades of debate, the drive to change the anthem suddenly gained momentum last Friday when a former women's affairs minister, Maria Rauch-Kallat of the Austrian People's Party, put forward the motion to amend the text.

"Of course there are more important women's issues for us to tackle," said Green Party spokeswoman Judith Schwentner. "But this concerns a great symbol - our federal anthem."

The new version is expected to get the green light in a parliamentary vote in the fall.

In 2010, the Harper Conservatives suggested a change to the national anthem. They wanted to amend the phrase "in all thy sons command" in order to make it more gender-neutral.

The mere suggestion sparked a great national debate that was only somewhat mitigated when the Prime Minister's Office withdrew the suggestion citing that Canadians have overwhelmingly told them they like the anthem in its current form.

(AFP Photo)