ST. PAUL, Minn. – A bill that makes it illegal to discriminate against people for their hair style was signed into law by Governor Tim Walz. The bill explicitly prohibits racial discrimination based on natural hair texture and personal preferences like braids, cornrows, dreadlocks and twists. A the signing ceremony was a crowd mostly of of black woman legislators and community leaders, Walz, age 58, whose own hair can be described at best as thinning, joked about “the irony of an older white bald guy signing this bill.” The bill [assed House 111-19, the Senate 45-19.
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Esther Agbaje, a Minneapolis Democrat who helped draft the legislation in the House: “With this law we are saying that we will not allow hair discrimination as a proxy for race discrimination. We are also saying it is perfectly fine to show up as you are.”