The California Supreme Court says if you belong to a youth group that discriminates based on race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation--then you can't be a judge.

The California Supreme Court has banned judges from belonging to youth groups that discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

The court banned judges from belonging to these groups back in 1996 but made an exception for non-profit youth organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, which does not allow homosexual or lesbian adults to serve in staff or volunteer positions.

According to a report by New American,

“Justice James Humes, an openly gay man who sits on California’s Court of Appeals, argued the exception should be abandoned ‘because it incites distrust in judicial impartiality, demeans gay and lesbian judges and is offensive and harmful.’"

All seven justices unanimously voted in favor of the change, probably because out of the 22 states with similar bans for judges, California was the only one to contain clause excluding youth groups.

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