On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) stated that California’s law requiring gender-neutral toy departments is something “department stores came to us supporting” and “they were already moving in that direction.” But he gets “how those things are weaponized.”
Host Bill Maher said, “I think we have way too many regulations and laws…and this one, I think, says, if you’re a department store with over 500 employees, you have to have a gender-neutral toy department.”
Newsom responded, “That’s an interesting one because the department stores came to us supporting that and they were the ones making a case for that. They were making us — they were already moving in that direction.”
Maher then asked, “They wanted you to make a law about them?”
Newsom answered, “[T]hey’ve supported the legislation. It wasn’t legislation that was initiated from my office, but it was legislation that came up with interesting support from the industry itself. But I understand how that’s exploited and good people can disagree, but that’s not something we woke up and said this is a top priority for the state, when we know the top priorities are homelessness, housing, the issues of crime, quality of life, and issues related to regulation and taxes, which are all top of mind. But I get how those things are weaponized.”
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