Gender Neutral Toy Sections Required In Some Stores Under New CA Law

Large retailers in California are required by law to offer a gender-neutral section for toys and childcare items as of Jan. 1.

Assembly Bill 1084 was approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 and dictates that department stores physically located in the state with 500 or more workers across California retail locations must offer a gender-neutral area, to be labeled at the businesses’ discretion.

The sections must include a “reasonable selection” of items, “regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys,” according to the legislative counsel’s digest for the bill. Stores that fail to comply with the law face penalties of up to $250 for the first offense and $500 for a subsequent violation.

“We need to stop stigmatizing what’s acceptable for certain genders and just let kids be kids,” Assemblyman Evan Low, a San Jose Democrat and the author of the bill, told the Associated Press in 2021, which at the time reported that similar efforts had failed in 2019 and 2020.

The California Family Council has opposed the law and argued it violates free speech, CNN reported.

“We should all have compassion for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria,” council President Jonathan Keller has told the outlet. “But activists and state legislators have no right to force retailers to espouse government-approved messages about sexuality and gender.”