{"id":488914,"date":"2026-10-08T06:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488914\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T06:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T06:36:24","slug":"california-to-recognize-jewish-as-ethnicity-on-state-forms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488914\/","title":{"rendered":"California to recognize Jewish as ethnicity on state forms"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the swipe of his pen at the end of the legislative session, California Gov. Gavin Newsom made the state the first in the nation to recognize Jewish as an ethnicity.<\/p>\n

The legislation will require state agencies to offer an optional box on forms to self-identify as Jewish ethnicity on everything from college applications to health forms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we recognize about 50 ethnicities and in on state demographic forms, and so figured it’s high time that you know those who aren’t religious, who don’t outwardly represent themselves that way or don’t feel religiously Jewish at all, but still are ethnically identified that way \u2013 that they should they should have that that chance,\u201d said California Sen. Henry Stern during a recent interview in his office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that’s more than just religious observance, and that people are identified as Jews both externally and culturally themselves, the same way you know someone who’s Armenian or someone who’s Cambodian or someone who’s Hmong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern, who is Jewish himself, said the hope is that the law said the data will help lead to a better understanding of the Jewish community and the services it needs. But critics have argued it\u2019s reminiscent of Nazi Germany, keeping record of Jewish members of the community.<\/p>\n

One group, Jewish Voice for Peace, wrote<\/a> in public opposition to the bill that it was a \u201cwrong-headed oversimplification of identity, one that could well exacerbate antisemitism, among other unintended consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern said he personally began to practice more traditionally as he got older, but that he remembers being the target of antisemitism as a child. He said those hateful comments have only grown in recent years and was very adamant that the law will protect the identities of those who chose to self identify as Jewish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no list of names. There literally is just a box, and then aggregated demographic data,\u201d Stern explained. “It’s a tough decision, everyone approaches it differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator recalled a time he said a man yelled expletives at him from a car and attempted to intimidate him with the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve had some really crazy things happen here in Los Angeles, so I get it’s a scary time, and that maybe the instinct is to blend in,\u201d said Stern. \u201cI frankly think the best way to attack all this hatred is to be proud and to identify yourself as others are seeing you, to own that and to be a voice. I can’t expect every young person or every parent or every person to want to step up that way, but at least for those who do \u2013 we want to give them that option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation comes at a time when the Trump administration is proposing changes to the 2030 census that would actually collect less information about race and ethnicity. The public has until<\/a> Oct. 13, 2026 to comment on the administration\u2019s proposed change to remove those questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steve Jost, who worked for the U.S. Census Bureau under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said this new California law flies in the face of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the effort in California is just an example of how most of the energy in the country is going in the other direction. We want better data about describing ourselves,\u201d explained Jost. \u201cI think most Americans think the census should be giving us a complete and accurate portrait of who we are and what we represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the law will only change California forms, Jost said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if other states followed suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdentity is a much bigger concept than it had been historically in our country. It’s about your country of origin, it’s about your religion, it’s about your race, it’s about your horoscope. It’s so much more than what the government has traditionally been collecting information on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Stern, the legislation becoming law is a major victory. But he\u2019s already hoping this initiative can take on a wider scope.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be seen in this moment when everyone wants to erase us\u2026\u201d said Stern. \u201cI think we could make this potentially a federal issue and a source of some pride in a moment of great darkness.”<\/p>\n

The choice of Jewish as an ethnicity will begin appearing on state forms in 2029.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the swipe of his pen at the end of the legislative session, California Gov. Gavin Newsom made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13354,80172,80173,13359,12861,6631,80171,7,9,8,75275,80170,100,13358,13,136,5996,80169],"class_list":["post-488914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-all-markets-rank-everywhere","tag-all-regions","tag-app-dc-bureau","tag-app-for-your-consideration","tag-app-national-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-app-us-world-news","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cassie-semyon","tag-dc-digest","tag-news","tag-nnt","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-vod","tag-washington-dc-bureau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}