Conservatives Plan Ballot Initiative To Combat California's New Transgender Law

[DriftingCrow]

Conservatives Plan Ballot Initiative To Combat California's New Transgender Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/14/california-transgender-ballot-initiative_n_3926247.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay%20Voices
Author: Beau Yarbourgh Source: Huffington Post

"Foes of California's new law that requires public schools to treat students as the gender they identify as, rather than the sex they were born into, hope to take their opposition to the ballot box next year, in an attempt to repeal the law. The bill, which is set to take effect on Jan. 1, allows students access to sex-restricted facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they identify with and to gender-restricted activities like sports teams."

[Vicky]

Brought to you by the same people whose Proposition 8 denial of same sex marriage was overturned at the Federal trial court level on the basis of facts showing that SSM had not created real harm to society. Their SCOTUS decision on standing to appeal the adverse trial court decision has overshadowed the factual basis of their non proof of underlying evils in the original law suit.  Maybe their basis of proof of the evil in this law is as shakey as an 8.5 earthquake too. 

[Jamie D]

In a state that is as liberal as California, Proposition 8 could not have passed without the support of liberals and moderates.  Nor would the proposed ballot initiative.

Food for thought.

[Vicky]

Poorly informed, un-informed, and lazy liberals and moderates can be just as bad as conservatives. Of that there is no doubt. I am currently involved with a couple of the organizations that will be attempting to change the poorly informed folks and maybe some lazy ones.  Your food for thought is in the kitchen as we speak!!  Information packages for local attorneys who advise local school boards are in the works, and have been since the first of August.

The other side of this one though is that two of the State's major school districts have used prior law to get the same effects as the new law.  Another California school district two blocks from my house is under a Federal Consent order to make the changes memorialized in this law, and got the fed order three weeks before the governor signed this one.  None of those would be affected by a repeal of the AB 1266.   The PROP 8 folks do not have as sure a win in the long run, but hell yes we need to work on this!!

[Jamie D]

Very good.  I believe that outreach and education are essential.

[Bardoux]

Give our children the privacy they need from 'transgenders' at school
Rebecca Hagelin, September 22nd

In August, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a provision that allows "transgender" students, from kindergarten to 12th grade, to gain access to restrooms, sports teams and locker rooms reserved for the opposite sex. The law states, "A pupil shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."

That's a fancy way of saying that boys who wish they were girls need only pronounce the magic words "I AM a girl" and they are entitled by law to be treated as girls. The same switcheroo holds true for girls who wish to be boys.

This means that a biological boy can take your daughter's spot on the girls volleyball team. As a "trans girl," he has a right to undress while he is standing next to your daughter in the girls locker room. He can follow your daughter into the restroom and occupy the next stall. It's awkward, embarrassing, an invasion of privacy and just plain dumb. The government bullies who already make our children's lives miserable in so many ways are dead set on destroying what little remains of their dignity and privacy.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/22/hagelin-give-our-children-the-privacy-they-need-fr/

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She starts the article with "Good people need your help, right now to fight government bullies who have gone bonkers over bathrooms."
I can't express how angry and offended this article makes me feel...


Edited to change subject

[Bardoux]

Petition drive underway to put California's transgender student law on the ballot
Cheryl Wetzstein, September 23rd

A clash over transgender rights in California is heating up as opponents of a "co-ed bathroom" law for children and teens press forward with a petition drive to let state voters decide next year whether the law goes into effect.

The "Privacy for All Students — Stop AB 1266" campaign has fewer than 40 days to collect more than 500,000 signatures to qualify as an initiative on the ballot.
If successful, the campaign will both block the transgender student law from going into effect Jan. 1, and place it on the November 2014 ballot for voters to approve or reject.

The goal is to turn in 650,000 to 700,000 signatures by Nov. 8, Karen England, a co-chairman of the campaign, said Monday.

Gay-rights allies hail the School Success and Opportunity Act as a milestone for transgender youth who struggle to fit in at school.
However, Ms. England and allies, including the National Organization for Marriage, say the law is "one step too far."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/23/petition-drive-underway-to-put-californias-transge/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Nation-TheWashingtonTimesAmericasNewspaper+%28Nation%2FPolitics+-+The+Washington+Times%29

[Amelia Pond]

National Organization for Marriage takes aim at California's transgender students' rights law
KATIE MCDONOUGH, SEP 23, 2013 10:18 AM -0700

While its name may suggest it is a one-trick operation, the National Organization for Marriage has serious range when it comes to being completely awful. Far from just focusing its advocacy and lobbying work to deny gay people equal marriage and adoption rights, NOM also uses its (marginal) political heft to do things like oppose basic protections for transgender teenagers.

NOM played a major role in laying the groundwork for the Prop 8 battle in California, and it is now trying to insert itself back into the state's local politics by gathering voter signatures against AB 1266, a law allowing transgender students to use school facilities and play on athletic teams that correspond to their gender identity. If NOM is successful, a measure to repeal AB 1266 would be on the November 2014 ballot.

[Shana A]

NOM is losing ground in Marriage Equality initiatives, and have set their focus on "Bathroom Bills".

Shana

[suzifrommd]

To some extent, the TG community has brought this on ourselves. We prefer to slip in and out of rest rooms unnoticed (because some of us can) rather than making a case to whomever will listen that using a restroom is a basic human right and need people do not give up that right and need simply because they are transgender.

[Amelia Pond]

Students speak out as petitions circulate over transgender rights
Courtney Vaughn, Hi-Desert Star, September 24, 2013 7:59 pm

Local businesses are taking part in a statewide petition to allow voters to decide on the rights of transgender students.

Assembly Bill 1266, the pupil rights bill, was approved by the governor Aug. 12. It is set to go into effect Jan 1.

The bill requires students be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities and use bathrooms according to their gender identity, not their sex.

"The new law builds on a national movement to end discriminatory practices and ensure transgender youth have the same opportunity to succeed as other students," a statement on the Transgender Law Center's website states. "Massachusetts and Colorado have statewide policies in line with AB 1266, and the Colorado and Maine state human rights commissions have held that state law requires schools to respect students' gender identity."

While lesbian, gay and transgender rights advocates call the bill a landmark in equality, others say they are concerned about the privacy of students in showers, locker rooms and bathrooms.

[Bardoux]

CUSD: Check your gender at the bathroom door
Penny Arevalo, September 26th

An outspoken opponent of LGBT efforts and a transgender employee of the district take the podium.  Stanley Wasbin of San Clemente – who earlier this year asked the trustees to ignore the mandates of a new law requiring the contributions of the LGBT community be included in social studies textbooks – took the podium again to address Assembly Bill 1266, signed by Gov. Brown in August.

"Just because something is law doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea," Wasbin told trustees. The item was not on the agenda.

Wasbin said that he feared boys will abuse the law just to get access to girls bathrooms and locker rooms.

"Two words: teenaged boys," he said.

Wasbin urged the district to seek a waiver to get out of having to put "urinals in girls' bathrooms."

He added: "If Capistrano Unified fails to get away from AB1266, just imagine the amount of time, money and paperwork that will be devoted to creating new bathroom policy."

http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/groups/schools/p/speakers-at-cusd-discuss-law-allowing-transgender-students-access-to-any-bathroom

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I don't believe it has been discussed yet how a student would qualify for the scheme, if they need to at all via a diagnosis of some form?
Whilst this guy comes across as a bit of a-hole, it's worth noting that the system could potentially be abused which would be incredibly damaging for all parties. An alternative that was mentioned later on in the article was the creation of a third gender-neutral option.

[suzifrommd]

don't believe it has been discussed yet how a student would qualify for the scheme, if they need to at all via a diagnosis of some form?
Whilst this guy comes across as a bit of a-hole, it's worth noting that the system could potentially be abused which would be incredibly damaging for all parties. An alternative that was mentioned later on in the article was the creation of a third gender-neutral option.

I agree, Bardoux. I still claim the locker room was pushing it a bit too far. If I'd been allowed in a girls' locker room in high school, there's no way I would have stopped myself from ogling. (And I turned out really to BE transgender...)

I can't imagine a boy claiming to be transgender just to be able to get into the girls' locker room. I can see it as a sort of stunt though, someone seeing if they could get away with it.

[Vicky]

I don't believe it has been discussed yet how a student would qualify for the scheme, if they need to at all via a diagnosis of some form?

The method for qualifying is in pre-existing law and procedure, including the pre amendment code section amended by AB 1266.  The Legislative Analysts report that was available to the Assembly and Senate referred to pre existing policies of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the San Francisco Unified School District (2 largest in the state) and published links to them.  Both districts allowed Trans* students the rights under the pre exisiting law and have procedures that can be easily adopted by other districts.  Neither district has had any problems under those poiicies.  In those places, privacy is a primary concern, and access to the facilities can include special use facilities that the schools already have, such as visiting team locker rooms, school personnel shower and changing facilities, and facilities that take the students out of immediate view of fellow students.  All of those options are to be used first, and that is permitted under the whole law much of which was pre existant.  This is something that the media misses and frankly wants to miss because it is boring and not newsworthy.

[Bardoux]

'Saving our locker rooms' arguments erase transgender people
Zack Ford, October 1st

California's new law ensuring transgender students have equal access to school facilities and activities is uniting various conservative groups in opposition. The effort to repeal AB 1266, the so-called "Privacy For All Students" campaign, has the support of the National Organization for Marriage, and groups around the country are similarly speaking out against trans equality. The latest to join the fray is Brandon McGinley of the Pennsylvania Family Institute.

He states "Separating the sexes in these facilities allows for distinct physical accommodations proper to the needs of men and women, but more importantly it allows for camaraderie among those who share the whole life experience of manhood or womanhood—among those who are the same... Personal facilities are sex-segregated in order to reduce their sexual nature."

Given their eagerness to discriminate against transgender students, it's ironic that they worry that an individual claiming a trans gender identity "needs no evidence." The mere fact that they have the courage to open themselves up to such degradation and stigma should be enough to merit them the benefit of the doubt.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/10/01/2709351/transgender-locker-room/

[DriftingCrow]

California GOP Backs Referendum To Overturn State's Transgender Student Protections Law
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tonymerevick/california-gop-backs-referendum-to-overturn-states-transgend
Author: Tony Maverick Source: BuzzFeed

The resolution formally supports efforts by Privacy For All Students, a coalition of conservative opponents of the law, to repeal the law in a voter referendum in the November 2014 elections. They argue that the law would infringe on parental choice and cause discomfort among students in school restrooms and locker rooms. Groups in the coalition, such as the Capitol Resource Institute, refer to Assembly Bill 1266 as "the co-ed bathroom law."

"[T]hey had to find a new boogeyman and that is transgender kids," says the out gay regional vice-chairman of the California Republican Party. If the referendum organizers collect enough signatures, the measure would go on the November 2014 ballot.

[Jamie D]

As of 02 November 2012, Republicans in California accounted for just 29.3% of the State's electorate.  Whereas Democrats accounted for 43.7%.

Registered "Independents" (those who decline to state a Party affiliation) account for 21% of the electorate.  The balance are distributed among minor third parties.

[formerMTF]

Do not think that the LGB-conservatives support transpeople in this issue. It was a bit suprise that governor Brown signed the law, that can clearly interpretted as ''left-wing' or ''progressive.'' I am expecting to see some LGB-people siding with opponets in this issue. 

[formerMTF]

I am just highlighting here that you can be right-wing and suppor gay-rights but to support transrights you must be a ''left-winger''. 

[Bardoux]

California Republican Party Endorses Anti-Transgender Discrimination
Zack Ford, October 7th

At this weekend's California Republican Party convention, the uber-conservative tea party helped influence a number of policy positions, including an endorsement of anti-transgender discrimination.

One of the committees discussed the recently passed law that ensures transgender students have equal access to activities and facilities in schools and approved a resolution — albeit by a split vote — to support the repeal effort.

Gregory Gandrud, a regional vice chairman for the party, warned members of a committee considering backing the repeal to be cautious about the message the party is sending at a time when it's trying to broaden its membership.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/10/07/2740571/california-republican-party-endorses-anti-transgender-discrimination/