California lawmakers are proposing a bill that would make it illegal to have separate “boys” and “girls” departments for toys and clothes.
The bill, which was introduced last month by California Assembly members Evan Low of the Bay Area and Cristina Garcia of Los Angeles, aims to require stores with 500 or more employees to do away with gendered signage.
“As much as I’d like to think of this as watershed legislation, this is something the industry is already doing. We’re just trying to play catch up,” said Low, who acts as California Legislative LGBT Caucus chair.
He shared that the bill was inspired by Target Corp.’s move to do away with gendered signs in 2015 after customers suggested that identifying products under gender preferences was unnecessary.
Low said that the daughter of one of his staff members who found the science toys in the “boys” section of a store was one of his motivations to introduce the bill.
“That was the impetus of this, which is how do we make a safe space today for children in society.”
The proposal would require stores to maintain “undivided areas of its sales floor” for childcare items, children’s clothes, and toys, “regardless of whether an item has traditionally been marketed for either girl or for boys.”
Meanwhile, any California-based online businesses selling childcare items, children’s clothing or toys, will be required to have “dedicate a section of the internet website to the sale of those items and articles that is titled, at the discretion of the retailer, ‘kids,’ ‘unisex,’ or ‘gender-neutral.’”
The bill could be introduced in committee for discussion and voting as early as March 21.
If passed, the bill would go into effect on January 1, 2024, and any store that fails to comply would be required to pay up to $1,000 in fines.