State-Enforced Gender Neutrality: Governor Signs Law to Put Woke Ideology Right in Kids' Faces
Facing the Christmas dilemma of buying a toy for a boy who maybe thinks he’s a girl, or vice versa?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has the answer.
A new law Newsom signed requires large retail stores – defined as those with 500 or more employees — to provide gender-neutral toy and child-care sections, according to the Los Angeles Times. The bill does not apply to clothing.
Retailers are not banned from continuing the long-standing division of toys by biological sex.
Gavin Newsom out here making gender neutral toy sections instead of fixing real problems. I don’t think the toy section of stores was ever seen as “problematic”.
— Stacks (@StacksHMD510) October 10, 2021
“Part of it is to make sure if you’re a young girl that you can find a police car, fire truck, a periodic table or a dinosaur,” said Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low, who sponsored Assembly Bill 1084.
“And then similarly, if you’re a boy, if you’re more artistic and want to play with glitter, why not? Why should you feel the stigma of saying, ‘Oh, this should be shamed’ and going to a different location?” Low said.
Low said the law, inspired by a child’s complaint, was vital to the state.
“I think it’s important that we as a state are demonstrating our values of diversity and inclusion,” he said.
Retailers face a $250 fine for the first violation and $500 for not complying after the first violation.
Government telling retailers how to operate, yay!
— Nicholas Trylovich ⚫️ (@NTrylovich) October 10, 2021
The law, which takes effect in 2024, was supported by the Consumer Federation of California.
“Keeping similar items that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys separated makes it more difficult for the consumer to compare the products and incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate,” the group said, according to the Fresno Bee.
Campbell Leaper, a professor of psychology at UC Santa Cruz, said this act could help mold children in different ways.
“We know from a variety of different research once they have those categories in their heads and if you label something for girls or boys, children will often ignore it if it’s labeled for the other gender,” Leaper said.
Leaper said a gender-neutral section is vital for all children.
“Even for kids that identify with their birth-assigned gender there may be some children who want to play with some of these toys, but then end up avoiding them because they don’t want to be considered abnormal somehow,” Leaper said.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
