A new state legislation in California that requires all retailers with more than 500 employees to offer a “gender neutral” toy area or risk fines is set to go into effect on January 1.
Gavin Newsom signed the bill in 2021, and it stipulates that retailers who sell toys and childcare supplies must pay a $500 fine if they fail to have a section labeled as “gender-neutral.” The childcare section is defined as “any product designed or intended by the manufacturer to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of children, or to help children with sucking or teething,” as stated in the legislative language.
Some claimed that this law is not necessarily an enduring statute and that it violates the First Amendment. The Vice President of the California Family Research Center, Greg Burt, expressed strong opposition to the situation, telling Fox News that “the government is deciding to tell a religious person, could be a Muslim-owned business, that they have to use certain words to advertise toys, and those words might violate the belief systems of that particular Muslim-owned business.”
“You got the government now dictating the signage in stores, about what words can be used to advertise products,” he said. “This is opening a Pandora’s Box.”
The legislation responded by stating, “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.”
“It shall display a reasonable selection of the products and toys it sells for kids, regardless of whether they have historically been marketed for girls or boys.”
Numerous individuals from California and other states have expressed that this can aid in the eradication of the stigmas and preconceptions related to toys and the toys that parents purchase for their children.
This measure is highly contentious, particularly in light of the recent announcements that Target will be selling transgender-friendly bathing costumes and that Bud Light will face backlash for its influencer Dylan Mulvaney-starring commercials.
Many believe that this is the beginning of stigmas being eradicated worldwide. “My hope is this bill encourages more businesses across California and the U.S. to avoid reinforcing harmful and outdated stereotypes,” the measure’s primary author, Evan Low, stated to CBS News in 2021.
