Move over confederacy...here comes the pronouns

New California Law Allows Prison Time for Workers Who Use Wrong Gender Pronoun

Katelyn CaralleOctober 10, 2017 3:24 pm

California Gov. Jerry Brown / Getty Images

A newly signed California law allows state health care workers who "willfully and repeatedly" refuse to use a senior transgender patient's "preferred name or pronouns" to face punishments ranging from a fine to prison time.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D.) signed the legislation on Friday, enacting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Residents' Bill of Rights, Fox News reported Monday.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, seeks to protect the rights of LGBT individuals in hospitals, retirement homes, and assisted living facilities.

Under the law, long-term care facilities for the elderly in California are not allowed to take certain actions on the basis of one's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status, including referring to a patient by the wrong name or pronoun. These facilities also cannot consider the aforementioned factors when a patient is being admitted, transferred, evicted, or discharged.

The legislation reads, in part:

Among other things, the bill would make it unlawful, except as specified, for any long-term care facility to take specified 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, including, among others, willfully and repeatedly failing to use a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns, or denying admission to a long-term care facility, transferring or refusing to transfer a resident within a facility or to another facility, or discharging or evicting a resident from a facility.

Violators of the law could be punished by a fine "not to exceed one thousand dollars" or "by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year," or both, according to Fox News.

But Wiener has said that nobody will be criminally prosecuted for using the wrong pronoun.

"It's just more scare tactics by people who oppose all LGBT civil rights and protections," he said in a statement last month.

Wiener's office said the new law "does not create any new criminal provisions," but rather creates "new rights within an existing structure."

Greg Burt of the California Family Council opposes the new law and spoke out against the bill in it early stages before the California Assembly Judiciary Committee in August.

"How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others," Burt said. "Compelled speech is not free speech … True tolerance tolerates people with different views."

Move over confederacy...here comes the pronouns

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh's son came out as gay to his father in the wake of Donald Trump's election win because he was 'scared'

Another reason to hate Michigan. Not only is Harbaugh's son a fruit... worse yet he was a Bernie supporter.

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James Harbaugh Jr., the son of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, came out to his father after President Donald Trump's election win last November and received an uplifting response.

'I just it blurted out – and told him for the first time verbatim – 'Dad, I'm gay. Do you know that?' James told the Two Outs podcast this week. 'And because of that, this is why X,Y, Z. I'm scared because of this, that and the other.

'And he just said something else back, it was an encouraging and uplifting response about how you just need to keep your head up,' James continued. '"As long as you do what you feel is right in your mind, you live your truth, everything will end up being OK."'

James Jr. (left) and Jim Harbaugh (right) caught the eclipse at Michigan Stadium in August

James currently attends University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he is working towards his BFA in directing.

The son, grandson, and nephew of football coaches, James said that he never felt out of place on the field or around the players.

'I think there was an obvious sense of feeling out-of-place in society in general,' James said. 'But I never felt aware of being uncomfortable around my dad's teams. If anything, I was way more self-aware of the fact that I was a mouse at 6-foot-1, compared to these 6-foot-5 giants when I would try and eat in their meal sessions at away games. I was more concerned about being stepped on than my sexuality.'

As long as you do what you feel is right in your mind, you live your truth, everything will end up being OK. 

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh to son James Jr. (as described by James)

James also credited his father with introducing him to musical theater when the family lived in the Bay Area while Jim coached Stanford's football team and, later, the San Francisco 49ers.

'In 2005, when he was at Stanford, he took the family — my sister, stepmom and I — we went and saw 'Wicked' in San Francisco,' said James. 'I was blown away by it. I was probably 12 at the time. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is so incredible. I would love to be a part of something that makes people feel this way, something that feels so magical and amazing."'

The 53-year-old Jim has a 44–22–1 record as an NFL coach and an 82-33 mark in the collegiate ranks.

James Harbaugh Jr. (left) seen here supporting the Baltimore Ravens, an NFL team coached by his uncle John. James's father Jim and grandfather Jack are also football coaches. 

I'm sure Harbaugh Sr. never saw it coming.

No really...

As a player, he was known for quarterbacking the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs.

Since following his own father into the coaching ranks, Jim has routinely been ridiculed for his preference for khakis – a fashion choice he seems to make regardless of the weather or occasion.

'They're hideous,' James joked.

Wouldn't be tossing the word 'hideous' around considering his lifestyle.

'You see him on the field and doing interviews,' James continued. 'But he comes home, and it's full-on. He's still wearing them, sometimes. And then if he ever varies from it, it will be equally as bad. He'll have on a full-on sweatsuit, and then his Crocs with socks. There's no better alternative. You almost want him to go back to the khakis.'

The Michigan Wolverines are currently 4-0 heading into Saturday's matchup with the rival Michigan State Spartans.

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh's son came out as gay to his father in the wake of Donald Trump's election win because he was 'scared'

I knew they would try to pin this on Trump

The MSM couldn't resist linking Trump with the mass murderer Stephen Craig Paddock

This is a photo and caption of Christopher Sullivan one of the gun shop owners who sold some of the guns to Paddock.

Sullivan is pictured posing with a cutout of US President Donald Trump

It's about as accurate as this one... after he met his maker... killed by a "white" Hispanic.

I knew they would try to pin this on Trump

He turned out worse than his old man!

Maybe that was his motive. To one-up his father?

Have to believe his live-in girlfriend, who is conveniently out of the country, knows more than she's letting on.

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Las Vegas gunman's father 'Big Daddy' was one of the FBI's Top Ten most wanted and escaped federal prison then spent a DECADE on the run

The father of the Las Vegas shooter was an FBI most-wanted bank robber and confidence man known as 'Big Daddy,' who was captured by in Las Vegas in 1960 - then escaped and lived on the run for a decade.

Stephen Paddock – the shooter who killed at least 50 in the Sunday night massacre – was just seven years old and living in Arizona when his father Benjamin Paddock was nabbed in Las Vegas by the FBI for a series of bank robberies in 1960.

At the time, Stephen's mother tried desperately to shield her young son and his three siblings from the devastating news that their father was living a double life as a bank robber and con-man.

Mugshot: This was the FBI's most wanted list's image of Paddock after his escape from prison. His nicknames included 'Big Daddy' and 'Chromedome' and he had a series of aliases

When FBI agents raided young Stephen's home in Tucson after his father's arrest, his mother took the boy swimming nearby.

'We're trying to keep Steve from knowing his father is held as a bank robber,' a neighbor told the Tucson Daily Citizen on July 29, 1960. 'I hardly know the family, but Steve is a nice boy. It's a terrible thing.'

Benjamin's friends and neighbors in Arizona were said to be shocked by his secret life of crime before his 1960 arrest.

Benjamin was known around Tucson as a big-hearted garbage disposal salesman who volunteered to as a 'special deputy' with the local police department, according to news reports at the time.

Armed and suicidal: Stephen Paddock took his own life after perpetrating the worst gun massacre in US history

But he was also responsible for at least four armed bank robberies in a two-year span in the Phoenix area, stealing a total of $30,000. He was reportedly armed during the holdups and drove stolen cars.

The law finally caught up with Benjamin in Las Vegas in July 1960, hundreds of miles from his home in Tucson.

After FBI agents surrounded Benjamin in downtown Vegas, he jumped into his car and tried to run one of them over. But an agent shot through his windshield, forcing Benjamin to stop and surrender.

A loaded pistol, a blackjack, and cash were found in his car, according to a news report from the time.

Benjamin was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the bank robbery, confidence crime, forgery and auto theft – but he didn't stay locked up for long.

He broke out of the Federal Correctional Institution at La Tuna, Texas on New Years' Eve of 1968. His escape landed him a top spot on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, which described him as 'armed and extremely dangerous.'

A Washington Post article in 1975 described his presence on the list as an embarrassment but he was removed from the list in 1977.

On the run: How the Tucson Citizen reported Stephen Paddock's father making the FBI's Top Ten most wanted list in 1969

After breaking out of prison, Benjamin began using the alias 'Benjamin Erickson' and 'Bruce Erickson' - an amalgam of two of his children's names.

He moved to Oregon where he restyled himself as the 'Bingo King of the State.'

He was finally recaptured by the FBI in September 1978, after the feds found him while they were staking out a Springfield bingo center.

They had been tipped off by an article in a local newspaper profiling the big-hearted bingo operator who was giving the proceeds - at least so he said - to a women's charity.

After an escape conviction, Benjamin appears to have been released on parole in April 1979.

His last listed address is in Springfield, Oregon and it is unclear if he has passed away. If alive, he would be 90 years old.

In 1990, syndicated columnists Amy Wallace and David Wallechinsky reported that Paddock had spent the tenth-longest time on the list since its inception in 1950. 

Described as a 'glib, arrogant, smooth-talking 'confidence man,' the hulking and bald Benjamin went by a number of different aliases over the years – including the nicknames 'Chromedome' and 'Old Baldy.'

A report on the FBI Wanted List described him as smoking cigars and cigarettes and enjoying steaks, desserts, gambling, TV, and baseball.

Before his arrest for bank robbery, Benjamin was also vice president of a local 'hot-rodder' club in Tucson. He was known to hang around a young crowd at a local nightclub, where he went by the nickname 'Big Daddy.'

Neighbors and friends told the local paper that there was no evidence of Benjamin's double life of crime.

'He seemed like the average middle-class businessman, devoted to his home and family,' a neighbor told the Tucson Daily Citizen after his arrest.

Even the local sheriff was stunned by the arrest, having brought Benjamin onto the police force as a volunteer deputy.

'It was quite a surprise,' said Sherriff Waldon Burr to the Tucson Daily Citizen. 'He bulged with sincerity.'

He turned out worse than his old man!

They're not even cold yet and the bitch is already attacking the NRA

Hillary makes Vegas shooting political by attacking the National Rifle Association as she expresses condolences for victims

Hillary Clinton led the Democratic charge for gun control measures in the hours after a shooter in Las Vegas left more than 50 dead. 

'Our grief isn't enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again,' the former Democratic nominee for president said. 

She called out the National Rifle Association for backing legislation that would make it easier for Americans to purchase gun silencers.

Hillary Clinton was the first high-profile Democrat to lash out at the National Rifle Association in the aftermath of last night's mass casualty Las Vegas shooting

Hillary Clinton started by offering condolences but then turned to the National Rifle Association in her Monday morning tweets

She took particular issue with the NRA trying to get it made easier to purchase silencers in several states 

'The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots,' Clinton noted. 

'Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get,' she said. 

Last night's shooting is already the deadliest in modern American history, outranking last summer's Pulse nightclub shooting that left 49 and the gunman dead. 

Clinton had started her tweets by offering typical condolences. 

'Las Vegas, we are grieving with you—the victims, those who lost loved ones, the responders, & all affected by this cold-blooded massacre,' she wrote. 

But then pivoted and took on the NRA. 

While Democrats are generally on board with such measures, so far Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former President Barack Obama haven't smacked the high-profile gun lobbying group. 

In a morning statement, Pelosi simply offered prayers and strong words. 

'Horrified and heartbroken by the awful tragedy in #LasVegas last night. Praying for those lost, wounded & waiting for news from loved ones,' the top House Democrat also tweeted. 

Her counterpart in the US Senate made a similar statement. 

'Deeply saddened for the people of Las Vegas and the country. We will keep the victims & their families in our hearts,' tweeted Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

'I commend the Las Vegas 1st responders, the SWAT team & the regular ppl who acted quickly & saved lives. Thank you,' the Senate minority leader added. 

President Obama, who pushed for better gun control measures in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, and also guided the nation through the Pulse nightclub massacre, which had been the most bloody until now, also left the NRA out of it. 

'Michelle & I are praying for the victims in Las Vegas. Our thoughts are with their families & everyone enduring another senseless tragedy,' the ex-president tweeted.

They're not even cold yet and the bitch is already attacking the NRA