Respect Matters: Using the Right Gender Pronoun

We love freedom. We really do. It is one of our guiding principles here at American Grit. So when a California law-maker writes a bill that even remotely suggests that someone could be put in jail for using the wrong gender pronoun, we’ve just got to say no. We’re all about respect here, but throwing someone in a cage for using the wrong gender pronoun is like throwing someone in a cage for calling us, gentlemen. They may not be right and it may be offensive, but no one is trying to through them into a cage for it.Last week Governor Jerry Brown, who let’s face it, is losing credibility faster than North Korea is pissing everyone off, signed a bill into law that does just that. The bill is targeted at health care workers who “willfully and repeatedly” decline to call senior transgender patients by their “preferred name or pronoun” could face fines or even jail time. The sponsor of the bill, California State Senator Scott Wiener says “It’s just more scare tactics by people who oppose all LGBT civil rights and protections,” referring to the accusations about the ridiculous nature of the bill. Let’s take a look at the bills actual wording to make sure.

“It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to take any of the following actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status,” referencing the wrong usage of gender pronouns or preferred name.It goes on to say that the punishment shouldn’t exceed 1000 dollars or one year in the county jail, although you could end up with both punishments. So let us get this straight. You write a bill, that says it’s illegal to do these things, and you give punishments for breaking said law. Then you say that the punishments aren’t really going to happen and that they're scare tactics. Our question here if you’re not going to enforce the law by fining people or placing them in jail, why write the bill? Why sign it into law? That’s like Sergeant Major telling us to not walk on the grass, but it’s totally cool if we do because he won’t yell at us.We try our best to respect everyone. Sometimes you won’t and it’ll be an accident, but the last thing we need is a law telling us how to act, especially if you’re not even going to enforce the law you put into place. Only in Cali.