On Aug. 2, Gov. Gray Davis signed into law Assembly Bill 196.
This bill mandates that employers hire without discrimination,
cross-dressers and transgendered people.
Dear Editor:
On Aug. 2, Gov. Gray Davis signed into law Assembly Bill 196. This bill mandates that employers hire without discrimination, cross-dressers and transgendered people.
AB 196 substitutes for the word “gender,” this new definition: “identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the victim’s sex at birth.” Huh?
This means if a person feels they are actually a member of the opposite sex from that which their birth anatomy defines, they are protected in being allowed to dress and act as if they are a person of the other sex, and they can do so on the job under the protection of AB 196.
Further, if an employer should choose not to hire such an individual, or should choose to fire him or her, the bill defines a fine of $150,000 per incident.
Our Assemblyman, Mr. Simon Salinas, voted yes on this bill. Worse yet, this bill advanced out of the Assembly to the Senate by the bare minimum vote of 42 yes, 34 no. Every vote was needed to achieve the 55 percent needed to advance the bill. Assemblyman Salinas could have stopped this bill with his no vote.
The bill applies to all businesses which employ more than five people and does not exempt businesses such as a religious bookstore, for example, or the Boy Scouts.
“If I have a Christian bookstore, how could I possibly follow this law? How could I possibly have an employee that’s here today in a dress, tomorrow may come in a suit, and then stay in a dress? How can I possibly employ this employee and still have the Christian bookstore and live by my faith.” These objections are the words of Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy speaking in opposition to the bill. Yeah, verily.
The citizens of the 28th Assembly District are indeed religious and a majority are regular churchgoers. Also, there is a rich tradition of the Boy Scouts being very active and of having a positive effect on generations of young men in this area.
This bill is an insult to the families and small businesses of this district.
We are demanding an explanation from our assemblyman for his outrageous and disappointing yes vote on AB 196.
Al Kelsch, Hollister
