California Will Soon Fine Stores That Don’t Have A ‘Gender-Neutral’ Kids Toy Section

A new California law slated to go into effect on January 1, 2024, will mandate stores that sell children’s items to have a gender-neutral section, according to a state government website.

The law applies to stores that sell “childcare items” or toys and employs a minimum of 500 employees across store locations, and it requires that they offer a section where “a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed, regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys,” according to its text. Stores that do not comply with the law could face a civil penalty and charged $250 after the first offense or $500 for later offenses.

“Unjustified differences in similar products that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys can be more easily identified by the consumer if similar items are displayed closer to one another in one, undivided area of the retail sales floor,” the text of the law reads. “Keeping similar items that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys separated makes it more difficult for the consumer to compare the products and incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is inappropriate.”

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slew of bills this year pertaining to gender ideology, including one bill that requires the State Department to create an “LGBTQ cultural competency training” by July 1, 2025, and another that requires the state to create an advisory task force to identify policies to assist LGBTQ students.

Newsom did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.