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California law allows transgender students to pick bathrooms, sports teams they identify with
- 1. California law allowstransgender students to pick bathrooms, sports teams they identify with The National Center for Lesbian Rights and the ACLU of California were among the bill's supporters. Detractors, including some Republican lawmakers, said allowing students of one gender to use facilities intended for the other could invade the other students' privacy. Such fears are overblown, said Carlos Alcala, spokesman for the bill's author, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco. In general, he said, transgender students are trying to blend in and are not trying to call attention to themselves. "They're not interested http://lawyers.findlaw.com/ in going into bathrooms and flaunting their physiology," Alcala said. He also noted that the state's largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, has had such a policy for nearly a decade and reported no problems. San Francisco schools also have had a policy similar to the new law, and numerous other districts signed on in support of the legislation. Gov. Jerry Brown AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli "Clearly, there are some parents who are not going to like it," Alcala said. "We are hopeful school districts will work with them so no students are put in an uncomfortable position." Brown signed the bill without comment. Democratic Assembly Speaker John Perez said the law "puts California at the forefront of leadership on transgender rights." The Gay-Straight Alliance Network said two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, have California laws statewide policies granting the same protections, but California is the first to put them into statute and require them in all school districts. The governor's action was criticized by a Sacramento-based conservative organization, which said previous state law was sufficient to address the concerns of transgender students and their families. Before Brown signed AB1266, state law already prohibited schools from discriminating against students based on their gender identity. Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute, criticized the Legislature and
- 2. governor for spreading"San Francisco values" throughout the state. "The answer is not to force something this radical on every single grade in California," she said. She said the new law does not require students to prove they have a gender-identity issue, but rather requires school administrators to rely on students' opinions of themselves. England also noted that there is no accurate way to gauge the effect of such policies because no uniform data on student or parent complaints is being collected. 13 Photos Mexico's indigenous "muxes" defy gender norms Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave as women gather for first time in Mexico City She predicted school districts will face lawsuits from parents of other children who feel their rights have been violated by the new law. Supporters of the bill say it will help students, not harm them. "In reality, this is about the safety of our trans students," Ben Hudson ofthe Gender Health Center told CBS Sacramento affiliate KOVR in May. He said transgender students must have the same opportunities all boys and girls to succeed in school. "These students are often in fear of their own safety, and their own protection. They're concerned about being bullied in school," he said. Hours after the governor's signing was announced, a conservative legal group based in Sacramento issued a news release soliciting plaintiffs for a future lawsuit against the law, which will take effect Jan. 1. The Pacific Justice Institute says AB1266 has the potential to raise privacy questions and lead to a type of reverse discrimination if it prevents students from making a sports team "because someone from the opposite gender took their place."