Palm Springs, California is set to provide a universal basic income (UBI) to its transgender and nonbinary residents, just for their gender identity.
The city council voted unanimously earlier this month to establish the $200,000 fund to allocate up to $900 a month for the program’s chosen recipients, Fox 13 Seattle reported.
Twenty city residents who identify as transgender or nonbinary will be chosen by DAP Health and the advocacy group Queer Works, who are managing the pilot program.
David Brinkman, the CEO of DAP Health, noted that Palm Springs’ transgender residents make up “one of the most marginalized populations in our city who face some of the highest levels of housing insecurity, joblessness and discrimination.”
In a press release, Queer Works CEO Jacob Rostowsky echoed his comments, describing transgender people as “highly marginalized in our society in general, especially economically.”
However, the plan does have its critics as well.
San Diego’s first openly gay city council member, Carl DeMaio, rebuked the plan in a statement which described it as “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, who serves as the chairman of the conservative advocacy group Reform California, said.
Other cities in California, such as Stockton, have recently implemented general UBIs in an attempt to combat poverty in their communities.
“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,” the politician noted.
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