By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD
You don’t have to live on the West Coast to know that California is in crisis. Almost daily we — the non-West Coast elite — are bombarded with stories of its crime, sanctuary cities, and budget problems, just to name a few. Now it is facing another crisis which could be exacerbated by its own failure to act in its homeless crisis: Coronavirus.
The state’s ill-equipped response to homelessness now leaves it open to a major health epidemic if that virus is spread into any one of the homeless camps that call the Golden State home. Yet its politically inept legislature apparently has more important things in mind.
Last month an up-and-coming member of the California State Assembly, Evan Low, introduced Assembly Bill 2826, entitled “Gender Neutral Retail Departments.” It is designed to combat the horrific practice of separating children’s clothing and toy departments by gender.
The legislature’s summary of this “long overdue bill” describes it thusly: “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 . . . 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 . . . liable for a civil penalty of $1,000.”
So if this farsighted proposal is adopted you won’t need to worry about picking out the wrong clothing for your non-sexually differentiated young munchkin. He, or she, or however you choose to refer to it (?) will be able to find a nice pink dress to go with the toy firetruck your little non-aborted companion fancies.
What a lovely turn of events for Californians; you need not guess what your little non-binary offspring might need, just let the little fellow point at the desired item and your troubles will be over. And how proud you’ll be when your little tike goes to the park in a chiffon outfit wearing a football helmet and cowboy boots.
And you were worried about a coronavirus epidemic among the homeless — silly you.
There are some who take polite umbrage at this “enlightened” approach to business regulation. One is Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, and a favorite guest on my old radio program (more about that below), who threw a wet blanket on the bill by opining, “California is killing freedom, innovation, and common sense with its endless bans, fines, and mandates. Compassion for our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors does not require us to embrace absurdities on gender. No child should be bullied or stigmatized, and neither should the state bully retailers into making it harder for moms and dads to find boys and girls clothing and toys. It’s time for voters to demand more accountability of their elected officials.”
Now the bill has, as of this writing, not yet been assigned to a committee, but from under his wet blanket, Mr. Dacus notes that it would be a mistake to dismiss concerns for the bill, pointing out that Mr. Low previously sponsored a ban on counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria which passed both houses of the state legislature before it was withdrawn.
Assemblyman (er, person) Low was elected to the legislature in 2014 and chairs the assembly’s business and professions committee, so I guess he must know something about this regulation thing. This year he was named national co-chair of the Andrew Yang for President Committee. Before his election to the legislature, he served as mayor of Campbell, Calif., and claims he was the first openly gay Asian-American mayor in the nation. I didn’t know they kept statistics on that.
Oh well, he was cited by The Sacramento Bee as the state’s most prolific lawmaker since he had more bills signed into law than any other member of the legislature.
Anyway, the good Assembly member has been busy. He introduced another bill that would prohibit taxpayers from reimbursing state employees for expenses at a business owned by a current or former president of the United States. “Public officials, at any level, should not profit off the constituents that they were elected to serve and represent,” he argued. I don’t think that one is aimed at state employees staying at Barack and Michelle’s B&B — he must have someone else in mind.
In 2016, he introduced a bill that would ban all California state-funded travel to states that enacted laws to discriminate against individuals based upon sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression — probably like places that still allowed separate boys’ and girls’ clothing departments. That same year New York Magazine identified him as a potential future presidential candidate. Nice. And I have a running-mate for him: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. What a great bi-coastal ticket to follow eight years of President Bernie Sanders!
Oh, the times we live in!
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I said I’d say something about the old radio program here. It was called Faith on Trial and ran every Tuesday from May of 2013 to September of 2017, some 212 shows. It was carried by Iowa Catholic Radio and in it we examined the influence of law and society on people of faith. It featured interviews with attorneys, doctors, professors, and others from around the world who were working on behalf of religious freedom in the face of a secular onslaught.
The aforementioned Brad Dacus was so frequent a guest that we joked he should be listed as a co-host. In fact, Brad was the guest on our last program, September 5, 2017, which at the time we did not realize would be our last.
But now, after a 31-month hiatus, Iowa Catholic Radio is bringing the program back. Starting next Thursday (March 26) FOT will be back on the air. It can be heard at 1150 AM, 88.5 or 94.5 FM, and if you are out of range you can listen to it at the station’s website, iowacatholicradio.com, or you can download a free app to listen anywhere.
My old co-host, Gina Noll, and I will be back at the microphones in the Mercy One studio every Thursday at 10:00 a.m. (Central) and the program will be re-broadcast later at 10:00 p.m. Join us if you can — I think you’ll find it an interesting hour.
Oh, by the way, if the program runs as it did in the past, you might want to have some antacid nearby. See you all next Thursday.
You can reach Mike at: Deacon
Mike@q.com.
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