Chicago City Wire

Illinois State Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago) wants to mandate Illinois toy sellers cater to so-called “gender neutral” children, or those who mistakenly believe they aren’t a boy or a girl.

House Bill 5582, filed by Huynh on Feb. 9, requires that “a retail department store that offers childcare items or toys for sale shall maintain a gender-neutral section or area, to be labeled at the discretion of the retailer.”

Huynh wants the state to mandate that all Illinois toy sellers to stock “a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed,” aimed at such children.

Small toy stores would be exempted from Huynh’s bill, which would only apply to “retail department stores that are physically located in the State that have a total of 500 or more employees across all retail department store locations in the State.”

Stores that fail to comply would be fined $250 for a first violation and $500 for any subsequent violation.

In 2021, California passed a law mandating “gender neutral” toy aisles at large retailers. It is the only other state to pass such a law. Advocates claim girls are unfairly influenced to be girls by pink toys, and boys to be boys by pink toys.

Huynh represents Illinois House District 13, which he was elected to in 2023. He is running for reelection and will be on the Democratic primary ballot on March 19, 2024. Huynh earned a bachelor's degree Yale University and a master's degree from Harvard University.