Unlike English, which has broadly adopted the singular they and uses gender-neutral nouns for people, German lacks widely used or officially accepted non-binary nouns and pronouns. As a result, most German language teaching materials continue to reflect a cisnormative binary gender system. Research has demonstrated that limiting teaching materials to the binary options (er, sie) leads to misgendering and marginalizes non-binary students. Language instructors, therefore, face the critical task of identifying inclusive linguistic forms (e.g., neopronouns, gender-inclusive nouns) that allow all students to express their identities and be respectfully addressed by others. Drawing on usage-based language acquisition theory, this paper outlines key challenges in developing authentic, gender-inclusive instructional materials. We propose a socio-pragmatic framework to support the meaningful integration of gender-inclusive language (GIL) into the beginning communicative curriculum. Additionally, we show how recent programming from German public broadcasters offers valuable resources for engaging students in discussions of non-binary identity and GIL use at intermediate and advanced levels.