Oct 7 (Reuters) - State Senator Aisha Wahab authored the bill vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom that would have made California the first U.S. state to explicitly ban caste discrimination.
In vetoing the bill, Newsom called it "unnecessary," arguing that since existing laws already banned ancestry discrimination, a separate legislation was not needed explicitly for caste discrimination.
U.S. discrimination laws ban ancestry discrimination but do not explicitly ban casteism.
Wahab's bill passed in California that Newsom vetoed added caste as a protected class to the state's existing anti-discrimination laws.
Activists opposing caste discrimination say it is no different from other forms of discrimination like racism.
Persons:
Aisha Wahab, Gavin Newsom, Wahab, Newsom, Kanishka Singh, Leslie Adler
Organizations:
California Senate, Hayward City, U.S, Thomson
Locations:
California, U.S, Hayward, Afghan, American, United States, India, Valley . U.S, Washington