California certainly has its priorities in order.
As the state faces a spreading homelessness crisis spurred on by drug addiction and astronomical housing prices, a new bill is seeking to fix the problem of gender conformity in toy stores.
According to Kron4, Assembly Bill 2826 (AB-2826) will require retailers to have gender-neutral floor spaces inside their stores by doing away with such outdated concepts like “boys aisles” and “girls aisles” by offering children products in a “single, gender-neutral section.”
Proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low, the bill would apply to all retail department stores with more than 500 employees. Low said having separate sections of boys and girls clothing or toys can create harmful stigma. Should this bill become law, retailers who don’t comply could be “liable for a civil penalty of $1,000.”
From the Bill:
Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, specifies that all persons within the jurisdiction of the state are free and equal, and no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status, are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind.
This bill would require a retail department store with 500 or more employees to maintain undivided areas of its sales floor where, if it sells childcare articles, children’s clothing, or toys, all childcare items, all clothing for children, or all toys, regardless of whether a particular item has traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys, shall be displayed. Beginning on January 1, 2023, the bill would make a retail department store that fails to correct a violation of these provisions within 30 days of receiving written notice of the violation from the Attorney General liable for a civil penalty of $1,000, as provided.
The bill further goes on to say that by dividing the toys into aisles of separate genders, the retailers make “it more difficult for the consumer to compare the products and incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate.” To remedy this, the bill sets the following guidelines for retail outlets to abide by, which include “undivided” areas in both toy and clothing sections of the stores “regardless of whether a particular item has traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys.”
“Beginning on January 1, 2023, a retail department store that fails to correct a violation of this section within 30 days of receiving written notice of the violation from the Attorney General is liable for a civil penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) which may be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General in any court of competent jurisdiction,” the bill asserts.
A recent poll in the once-golden state actually showed that homelessness is the state’s number one issue above climate change or immigration – gender-neutral spaces for toy stores barely makes the list.
“Of the respondents, 22.9% ranked homelessness as the top problem,” asserted the register. “Other issues lagged behind: 14.8% named climate change/environment, 9.2% said immigration, and another 7.5% simply answered ‘Trump.'”
Thus, California is rolling up its sleeves to tackle the biggest problem of all: stores that divide clothing and toys according to gender.
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