Community Corner

Issue: Will Letting Transgender Students Pick Restrooms Do Collateral Damage?

Law will allow K-12 transgender students to use whatever bathroom and take part on whichever sports team they believe matches their gender identity.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed AB 1266, co-authored by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins of San Diego and officially titled the School Success and Opportunity Act. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2014.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups rejoiced.

As Huffington Post reported, the law “will allow transgender youth to use whatever [school] bathroom and participate on whichever sports team they believe matches their gender identity.”

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Calen Valencia, 18, a transgender student from Tulare, was quoted by San Diego Gay & Lesbian News as saying: “I should have graduated this year, but my school refused to give me the same opportunity to succeed as other boys. Now other transgender youth won’t have to choose between being themselves and graduating high school.”

But critic Karen England, executive director of the Capital Resource Institute, said: “Current law dealt with this sensitive issue on a case by case basis, but this bill was never about helping a few children that experience gender dysphoria—it is about furthering the radical Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender agenda by utilizing the public school system to force acceptance of the lifestyle on our children. … The homosexual activists are forcing San Francisco values on all California public schools at the expense of the most vulnerable, our children.”

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Is AB 1266—allowing transgender K-12 students to use whichever restroom and locker room they want—a sensible move?  Or will it have unintended and possibly harmful consequences?  Share your thoughts in the comments.


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