California has officially created a certification program that requires business owners to prove they're sufficiently LGBT friendly before the state will hand them taxpayer-funded utility contracts — and if you fake it, you could spend up to a year in county jail. Because nothing says "equality" like a government bureaucrat with a clipboard auditing your sexual orientation.
Sir, on a scale of one to Elton John, how gay would you say you are? Please provide documentation.
According to a bombshell investigation by City Journal reporters Christopher F. Rufo and Austen Hufford, the California Public Utilities Commission's Supplier Diversity Program has been quietly building a sexual-orientation credit score system for years. The CPUC is now pressuring utilities to steer $633 million in contracts toward "LGBT Business Enterprise" certified firms — out of $43 billion in total utility contractor spending in 2024. To qualify, a business must be at least 51% owned by a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person, with that individual controlling daily operations.
But here's where it gets absolutely unhinged. The certification checklist — administered through a body called the Supplier Clearinghouse — requires applicants to submit evidence proving they're really, truly gay. We're talking a letter from an LGBT organization attesting to your sexual preferences. Proof that a newspaper identified you as LGBT. Three letters from personal contacts written on company letterhead vouching for your homosexual orientation. A domestic-partner affidavit. For transgender applicants, a therapist letter certifying your identity or a reissued birth certificate. They'll even accept human resources complaints or police records claiming you suffered LGBT discrimination.
Three letters on company letterhead. From people who can personally confirm you are, in fact, gay. I genuinely cannot tell if this was written by a government agency or a comedy writer at The Babylon Bee.
The whole racket traces back to 1986, when Assembly Bill 3678 first required California utilities to procure from women- and minority-owned businesses. Then in September 2014, former Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1678 to extend that eligibility to LGBT-owned businesses. Governor Gavin Newsom piled on in 2019 with SB 255, expanding the program further into the energy sector. By 2022, the CPUC had fully implemented the expansion with escalating procurement goals baked right in: 0.5% for LGBT firms in 2022, 1% in 2023, and 1.5% for 2024 and beyond — alongside 15% for minority-owned firms, 5% for women-owned firms, and 1.5% for disabled-veteran-owned firms.
So the people who actually lost limbs defending this country get the same procurement target as people who checked a box about their bedroom preferences. Outstanding.
The state's legislative LGBTQ caucus actually complained the targets were too low, calling them "an insult to the LGBTQ+ community." Meanwhile, the advocacy group BuildOUT California lobbied hard for the program by claiming "homophobia" existed within "the ranks of the utility companies." Because when you need someone to fix the power grid, the first question should obviously be about their dating life.
As of the City Journal report, there are 451 LGBT-certified firms in California compared to 3,750 Minority Business Enterprises. San Diego Gas & Electric spent $8.6 million on LGBT businesses in 2022 — just 0.36% of their procurement — yet even that wasn't enough. And despite all the pressure, utilities' procurement with LGBT businesses actually decreased 5% in 2024.
One beneficiary, internet pioneer Mary Ann Horton — founder of a company called Red Ace — told City Journal, "If I was a straight, white male, I might be concerned I don't have the same opportunity. It worked out great for me." Horton also described the application as "a mess of documentation." At least she's honest about the quiet part.
Here's the kicker. California voters approved Proposition 209 back in 1996, banning preferential treatment in public employment, education, and contracting. When progressives tried to repeal it with Proposition 16 in 2020, voters rejected that too. So the state just routed around the voters entirely by running the program through utility commissions instead of direct government contracts. Democracy is so inconvenient when you have quotas to fill.
The National LGBTQ+ & Allied Chamber of Commerce even has the gall to put this gem on their website: "Certification is a journey, not a destination." A journey that apparently requires a therapist's note, three character witnesses to your love life, and the ever-present threat of up to one year in county jail if you lied about who you find attractive.
We went from "what happens in the bedroom is none of the government's business" to "please submit notarized proof of what happens in your bedroom or you don't get the contract." California didn't just jump the shark. It certified the shark as LGBT and gave it a utility contract.