Language discrimination bill
The California Congress submitted the California Bill 111 and vetoed by the California Governor Edmund Brown in 2011. One of the causes of the bill was the Only-English rule that the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) introduced in 2008 to unify the criteria in the used language for the championship, press conferences, and events. That situation generated criticism in the community, news media, and several international players. The California Congress took the message and created a bill to enforce the California businesses to avoid discrimination by the language use affecting the execution of the LPGA tour in the California state.
The Governor vetoed the bill with the argument that the bill may generate problems and high litigation costs to small businesses in the state, and there are enough laws on the state and federal level that protect citizens against discrimination.
The discrimination related with language, as Lippi-Green says in her book English with an accent, that is a subject that always will appear in the United States of America, a country with no official language, according to is the constitution, but a predominant language which is the English. A multilingual organization is stronger than a monolingual organization. The football, for example, is a sport that does not have a one language policy with important markets of the world that speak different languages like English, Spanish, German, Arabic, and Chinese. The LPGA measure goes against the interests of the LPGA business that may affect the entrance of players and sponsors to the tour. The previous remarks are related to the chapter The Information Industry (Rosina), the limitation of industry to one language will limit its development in new markets. The one language policy will reduce the international importance of the LPGA, and the tour will be an only-English speaking tour. That may create the opportunity for other leagues in America, Europe or Asia to create a new multi-language or multi-cultural tour. The LPGA Tour English policy and the language discrimination bill was not a subject of accent discrimination (Rosina 149), but for language discrimination. Choi-Na Yeon was a Korean player of the LPGA that performed for more than seven years on the LPGA tour, but he always used a translator for the tour events, receiving the discrimination of the event's organizers for her participation. With the new rule, Choi-Na Yeon was unable to participate in LPGA event reducing the ability to attract the best players no matter the English skills or accent.
Works Cited
Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
