Tag: 1266

Posted on

Challenge to 1266 fails

The California secretary of state’s office issued the final full check Monday, February 24, as reported in the Bay Area Reporter.

“It showed that the Privacy for All Students coalition, which sponsored the referendum, needed 540,760 valid signatures. The coalition ended up with only 487,484 valid signatures.

“Called the School Success and Opportunity Act, Assembly Bill 1266 ensures that California public schools are committed to the success of all students, including those transgender-identified. Under the law, transgender students have the right to participate in all school activities like sports teams, and use school facilities like bathrooms based on their gender identity.

In January, random samples taken from petition signature counts in each county qualified the referendum, albeit barely, for a full signature count. As final numbers rolled in on Monday, AB 1266 supporters nodded their approval and celebrated the continued protection of transgender youth in California schools. AB 1266, which was signed by Governor Jerry Brown last summer, went into effect January 1.

“Richard Poppen, an Equality California board member and mathematician, watched the signature counting process closely and relayed regular informative updates to colleagues as each county reported their numbers.

“The process went through in the standard way,” Poppen told the Bay Area Reporter. “Referendum proponents got the full benefit of the statutory process but failed fair and square to meet the threshold. Trans kids will continue to be protected as the legislature intended.”

“Supporters of the new law, including Equality California, the Transgender Law Center, and other groups that came together under the Support All Students campaign, were pleased the referendum failed to qualify, and thus there won’t be a divisive anti-LGBT measure on the November ballot.”

 

More at: http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=69512

Posted on

AB 1266: Month One

One month ago, California enacted AB 1266, also known as the Success and Opportunity Act, allowing for transgender students to participate in school sports, utilize locker rooms and bathrooms with the gender they identify with most rather than the gender they were biologically assigned by birth.imgres

Convervative groups soon launched a petition drive to repeal the measure, largely organized through churches. Thus far AB 1266 has not created the problems its opponents predicted. Neither have the requisite number of signatures been verfied to place the repeal on the ballot. The count is scheduled for completion on Feb 24.

As Media Matters reports:  “One month after taking effect, California’s new law allowing transgender students to use facilities and participate in programs that match their gender identities hasn’t given rise to the horror stories predicted by the right-wing media, according to school officials around the state.

“On August 12, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the School Success and Opportunity Act, extending to transgender students statewide rights that had already been recognized by large school districts like Los Angeles Unified School District. The passage of the law, which took effect on January 1, catalyzed a conservative misinformation campaign featuring the false claims that transphobic bullying is “not a big problem,” that the law would allow bathroom “free-for-alls” with students exploiting the law to use opposite-sex restrooms, and that harassment would spike in restrooms and locker rooms.

“In an interview with Equality Matters, Dr. Judy Chiasson, Los Angeles’ program coordinator for Human Relations, Diversity and Equity, said that after nine years of implementing trans-affirmative policies, Los Angeles schools haven’t experienced any of the problems predicted by right-wing critics of the law. Continue reading “AB 1266: Month One”