The city council in Palm Springs, California, has approved a pilot program that will give 20 residents who claim to be “transgender” or “non-binary” a guaranteed income of $600 to $900 a month for two years. The payout will cost taxpayers some $200,000.
In the City of Palm Springs, we are proud to be a beacon of hope to the rest of the nation. We’ve worked hard to build an inclusive community. Our latest proposes a guaranteed income pilot program for trans and non-binary people. (2/2) https://t.co/cLc7PgvICc
— Christy Gilbert Holstege (@christyholstege) April 1, 2022
“In the City of Palm Springs, we are proud to be a beacon of hope to the rest of the nation,” Christy Holstege, the council member behind the plan, said on Twitter. “We’ve worked hard to build an inclusive community. Our latest proposes a guaranteed income pilot program for trans and non-binary people.”
The council voted unanimously last week in favor of the social justice policy, according to the Daily Mail, which noted that the “transgender” mayor, who goes by the female name Lisa Middleton, has doubts about the plan:
“My serious concern is the ability of these guaranteed income programs to scale up to the magnitude of the issues that are before us,” said, despite voting in favor of the pilot program. “I have been wrong many times.”
The Palm Springs experiment will be partially funded by the state, which has set aside $35 million for experiments in guaranteed income programs – something which became a hot topic when Andrew Yang ran for the 2020 presidential election on a platform that included universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month for everyone over 18.
Fox News reported on opposition to the plan from another gay local official. Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, a Republican who served as the first openly gay member of the city council, called the program “outrageous and discriminatory.”
“We’re completely opposed to guaranteed or universal basic income programs, because they ultimately cause inflation and raise the cost of living on everyone — they don’t work,” DeMaio said in a statement.
“But at least some of them have minimum income requirements to qualify, whereas this one is no-strings-attached ‘woke’ virtue signaling to the LGBT community in a way that is not only offensive but discriminatory,” he continued.
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