There already at least three to four variants of "gender-neutral" phrases used in German. The almost classic one with using a "binnen-I" (within-I) as in "Bürge

There already at least three to four variants of "gender-neutral" phrases used in German. The almost classic one with using a "binnen-I" (within-I) as in "BürgerIn" (citizen masculine and feminine). Doesn't work so great in the plural, though, were with "BürgerInnen" you lose the masculine marker. The same with the more recent "Bürger:in" or ""Bürger*in". There's also the possibility of enumerating "Bürger" und "Bürgerin", which becomes quite tedious when it's used throughout longer texts. In special cases it's possible to use the noun form of an adjective as in "Studierende" which has become the standard gender-neutral form of "students". As a German native speaker I never understood how "Studenten" has been perceived to exclude female students but that's how it is now. In the same vein people taking part in something are now called "Teilnehmende" while they were formerly called "Teilnehmer". Personally I find all of this horrible although of course I am for equality, equal opportunity and equal pay.