Let's set up a fun situation.
You, dear reader, think it is a fundamental moral wrong to like the Star Wars prequels. Not only this but you have made it your sworn duty to dissuade dirty prequel apologists at all cost! Earlier today, you discovered a terrible truth….your friend loves the Star Wars prequels. OH GREAT AGONY! CRUEL INJUSTICE! You, dear reader, must act quickly to solve this grave problem and encourage your friend towards the path of righteousness so that they will no longer be a danger to themselves and others. Faced with this moral dilemma: what do you do? (you have ten seconds to respond)
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Your time is up!
If you answered literally anything but “unfriend them on Facebook, block them on twitter and limit interact with them until they magically change their minds” you are correct and a semi-decent human being.
If you want to make the world more like you think it should be, the only sure fire way that you can fail at impacting the world around you is to cut yourself off from it. If you have a message, a vision for how the world should be the only way you can hurt your cause is by not engaging in dialogue.
A law was passed just recently and has gone into effect as of January 1, 2017, which states (according to the State of California Department of Justice website) “‘California must take action to avoid supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.’ (Gov. Code, § 11139.8, subd. (a)(5).)” This is a good law, but it goes further.
It goes on to say that state-funded travel to states that have discriminatory laws (specifically 4 states, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee) will cease immediately. I’ll start out by defending the law and then I’ll get into two major reasons I believe this law is a bad idea and it’s implementation has terrible implications for the American culture.
Why this law is good
Reason 1) The rhetoric is good. In the text of the law itself, there is a lot of talk of rights and freedoms both for religious groups and sexual groups. Freedom is a universal good and this law goes out of it’s way to defend all people's rights not just the LGBTQ’s community.
Reason 2) The Law is toothless. Sometimes the best thing a legislature can do is write a strongly worded letter and sometimes that letter is a law. This law will not tangibly harm anything.
Why this law is bad
Reason 1) IT’S TOOTHLESS, MAN! The law goes to great length to spell out that absolutely no tax dollars will go to interstate travel to or from states with discriminatory laws and then gives this list of exceptions.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not apply to travel that is required for any of the following purposes:
(1) Enforcement of California law, including auditing and revenue collection.
(2) Litigation.
(3) To meet contractual obligations incurred before January 1, 2017.
(4) To comply with requests by the federal government to appear before committees.
(5) To participate in meetings or training required by a grant or required to maintain grant funding.
(6) To complete job-required training necessary to maintain licensure or similar standards required for holding a position, in the event that comparable training cannot
What you have before you is a full list of nearly every reason a government official would have for needing reimbursement for an out of state trip! That is the same level of stupid as saying “We can’t be friends anymore, but we’ll talk when we see each other. Also if you need anything feel free to call. Also here is my door key.”
Reason 2) The law formally discourages (even if it is in a weak way) interaction between state governments and state government officials. They have, for lack of a better metaphor, “unfriend them on Facebook, block them on Twitter, and limit interact with them until they magically change their minds.” But they are not going to change their minds because California has given them permission to not care what California thinks about sexuality or discriminatory practices.
Limiting interactions, on a government level or an individual level, will never do any good. And it is my belief that the sooner we can recognize that the sooner we can start making progress as a country by having an open dialogue as states, governments, and people.
