Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania signed the CROWN Act into law at a West Philadelphia hair salon, prohibiting discrimination based on natural hairstyles. The legislation protects styles like locs, braids, twists, and afros, and passed the state Senate with a 44-3 vote after years of advocacy, according to the state and local news reports.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recently visited a hair salon in West Philadelphia to sign the CROWN Act into law, according to reporting by the Daily Wire and state officials. The measure — formally titled Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — bans discrimination against individuals based on their hair texture or style.
The law explicitly protects natural Black hair textures and styles such as locs, braids, twists, afros, and similar expressions of cultural identity, language that mirrors the bill text and related advocacy efforts.
Supporters say the bill is a significant step toward addressing long-standing biases in workplaces and public spaces. The Daily Wire reports that the legislation cleared the state Senate with strong bipartisan support, passing 44–3. The outlet also notes that the CROWN Act was introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2021 and approved there in 2023, after earlier efforts in prior sessions failed to advance.
Shapiro underscored the bill’s broader civil rights implications during the signing ceremony. “Real freedom means being respected for who you are — no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love, or who you pray to,” he said in remarks published on the governor’s official website and quoted by the Daily Wire. “For too long, many Pennsylvanians have faced discrimination simply for hairstyles that reflect their identity and culture — that ends today.”
Key Democratic proponents of the legislation include House Speaker Joanna McClinton and U.S. Representative La’Tasha D. Mayes. The Daily Wire reports that both women have been pushing for the CROWN Act in Pennsylvania since 2019 and that their support is rooted in personal experiences.
McClinton described how professional norms shaped her own choices. “I never wore braids from law school to being a public defender for seven years in this city, because I always had a perception that it would not be respected,” she said. “They will not look at your hair and say you cannot work here. They will not look at your hair and say you do not belong.”
Mayes, a Democrat representing Pennsylvania in Congress, highlighted the impact of hair-based bias on younger people and workers. “Hair discrimination has taken confidence from our children, but that ends today,” she said, as quoted by the Daily Wire. “Hair discrimination has taken dignity from workers, but that ends today. It has taken access to economic opportunities, hopes and dreams, but that begins to end today.”
With Shapiro’s signature, Pennsylvania joins a growing list of states that have adopted some form of CROWN Act protections. The Daily Wire notes that 28 other states already have similar legislation on the books. Separate national reporting and advocacy groups have documented a steady expansion of state-level measures seeking to prohibit hair discrimination in schools, workplaces, housing, and other settings.
The Pennsylvania law comes amid ongoing national discussions about Black hair and professional standards. The Daily Wire points to recent comments from former First Lady Michelle Obama, who has discussed the pressure many Black women feel to straighten their hair to conform to prevailing beauty norms and workplace expectations.
Obama has described Black women as being “trapped” by those standards and has argued that straightening hair often limits everyday activities such as swimming or exercising because of the time and cost involved in maintaining certain styles. She urged audiences not to police or question Black women’s hair, saying people should not tell her how to wear it, wonder about it, or touch it, and instead accept that it “just is,” according to the outlet’s account of her remarks.
Taken together, supporters say Pennsylvania’s CROWN Act aligns the state with a wider movement to ensure that traits closely tied to racial and cultural identity — including natural hair and protective styles — are explicitly shielded from discrimination in law.
