United States: California lawmakers have voted to pass a bill that bans discrimination based on caste. The bill further adds protections for people of South Asian descent who say they have been left out of traditional American safeguards for fairness in employment and housing. The first-of-its-kind bill in the US now heads to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who must decide whether to sign it into law.
The move gives added protections to people from countries like Nepal, India, and Bangladesh who weren’t included in pre-existing anti-discrimination laws. The state Senate voted 31-5 to approve the bill that would redefine “ancestry” to include “lineal descent, heritage, parentage, caste, or any inherited social status.”
The bill was authored by state Sen. Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan-American woman elected to the state Legislature. “Caste discrimination will not be tolerated in California,” the senator commented. The bill easily passed the legislature with only a few dissenting votes.
In recent years, South Asians have been demanding caste protections in the US. Many major US colleges and universities have added caste to their non-discrimination policies, including the University of California and California State University systems. In February 2022, Seattle became the first US city to ban discrimination based on caste.
The opponents of California’s bill argued that it is unfair because it only applies to people in a caste-based system. A letter to state lawmakers from the Hindu American Foundation earlier this year worried that South Asians could be “forced to answer intrusive questions about or be judged for who they are married to.”
“This bill targets Hindus and East Indians,” state Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield who voted against the bill, remarked.
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