California is the home of human waste on sidewalks, a booming homeless population, and an abundance of wildfires. That’s just how poorly they are run. The true blue state is friendly to the LGBTQ and usually cave to whatever they want. So in an odd turn of events, the courts in California overturned a law that infringes upon the freedom of speech in favor of trans. The law made it a misdemeanor if you didn’t use the right gender pronoun and was punishable by a heft fine and/or jailed time.
The court overturned SB219‘s Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act.
“The California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Under existing law, a person who violates the act, or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides for civil penalties for a violation of the act.”
“The State of California Third District Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that a state statute requiring nursing home staff to use the correct pronouns for trans and nonbinary patients is a freedom of speech violation.
The Court, in a unanimous 3-0 decision, struck down this key provision of the LGBTQ Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights, created by SB 219 in 2017, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by Equality California. The Court upheld the provision in the law that requires nursing homes to place transgender patients in rooms that match their gender identity.”
It was $1000 and up to a year in jail if you refused to use whatever pronoun or gender identity the person wanted. This was a limitation on the freedom of speech and excessive. Just because someone identifies as a giraffe, doesn’t mean we all have to abide by it. But it is amazing that California realized that it was a bad law, and so at least for now, people will be safe from this excessive penalty.