A new California law requiring employers to incorporate anti-hate speech instruction into their existing workplace harassment training is drawing sharp criticism from conservative Christian groups and pastors, who contend the measure forces employers to promote a government-approved viewpoint and could expose traditional religious beliefs to workplace discipline.
Assembly Bill 1803 was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month and is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2028. The law requires employers with five or more employees who are already covered by the state's harassment-training requirements to add instruction on recognizing, reporting and addressing workplace speech that «vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred» based on protected characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The measure does not create a separate training mandate; instead, employers are expected to fold the new material into programs they already provide.
The California Family Council and pastors from several traditional churches across the state say the law poses a significant problem. They warn that traditional Christian teachings on sexuality, marriage and gender could become entangled in workplace disputes over what constitutes hateful speech. Churches that base their teachings on biblical passages stating that homosexual acts or same-sex relationships are contrary to biblical teaching are not explicitly exempt from the new training requirements.
«California has gotten excited about their ability to retrain the entire population regarding what they believe about gender and sexual orientation,» Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, said regarding the legislation. «But California's Civil Rights Department put together some curriculum that is explicitly condemning anyone who has a conservative view.»
Burt also echoed criticism from Dr. Paul Chappell, pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California, who said on the Todd Starnes podcast that «AB 1803 is poorly written and a stretch by another liberal California legislator attempting to create bias against conservatives.» Burt told the California Assembly Labor and Employment Committee last March during a hearing on the bill that «you cannot regulate what you cannot define.»
According to Burt, an addition made several years ago to sexual harassment training, which included harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation, left people wondering what it means to discriminate against or harass someone on those grounds. That uncertainty, he said, led the California Civil Rights Department to develop its latest training curriculum. The training module posted on the California Civil Rights website includes a slide defining «gender identity» as each person's «internal understanding of their gender.» According to the state, that understanding may be male, female, «a combination of male and female,» «neither male nor female» or nonbinary.
Burt emphasized that while most people can agree that certain speech is hateful and wrong, the government's power to define «hate» could expand beyond clear-cut cases and begin targeting disfavored viewpoints, particularly religious beliefs. He argued that the training hinges on a term — hate speech — that has no clear legal definition in state law, and noted that the legislation contains no explicit exemption for matters of conscience.
Burt also pointed out that the new training requirements extend beyond private-sector employees to public school teachers and workers in many state-licensed industries. He argued that the training could put employers in the position of deciding whether to discipline employees over their religious beliefs, potentially exposing employers and employees to lawsuits if they fail to act.
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, who has also spoken out against the legislation, offered a strong criticism of the measure. «The California legislature has also been proven to be one of questionable character and morality,» Hibbs said. «Now, all of a sudden, they have concluded that they, of their own volition, make themselves the moral police and the archbishop as it were over the conduct of even churches in California regarding their 'hate speech' agenda.»
«It is an encroachment upon the church, it is themselves setting themselves up as the moral police, where they have proven to be derelict regarding that, and the church itself is actually the moral conscience of any culture,» he added. «The Trojan horse has gotten within the walls and the government is now seeking to legislate their godless morality even into the conduct of the church. And it's completely unacceptable and will be challenged.»
Meanwhile, Equality California, the state's leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization and a supporter of the legislation, has argued that existing harassment training contains a significant gap that leaves employees vulnerable to hostile work environments. The nonprofit declined a request for comment.