‘Transgender law’ allows students to choose sports, bathrooms based on gender identity

On Aug. 12, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1266, an amendment to the California education code that will give transgender students access to sex-segregated bathrooms, sports regardless of their gender at birth.

For example, a transgender female will be allowed to join girls’ sports teams and use the girls’ bathroom, “irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.” The law will likely take effect on Jan. 1. 

Like Proposition 8, a law giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry that sparked mass protests in 2008, AB 1266, or the “transgender bathroom law” as it is colloquially called, is the subject of intense backlash from conservative groups. 

So far, the law is a non-issue at Saratoga High. Principal Paul Robinson said he does not expect drastic changes to happen anytime soon for bathrooms on campus.  

“I don’t know if there’s anything that we can do [in response to the law],” Robinson said. “We have to abide by the law and what the law means.”

After the governor signed the bill into law, the organization Privacy for All Students has created a petition to force a statewide vote on the bill. However, the initiative may not succeed.

Although the organization received more than 620,000 signatures, the signatures are only about 75 percent accurate so far, compared to the 95 percent rate of accuracy required. This means that around 25 percent of the signatures are forged or otherwise invalid. 

In the event that the signatures do pass verification, California would vote on it next November, and in the meantime the law would be suspended pending election results. 

One alternative suggested by the California Catholic Conference, which called the policy a “‘one size fits all’ politically correct agenda,” proposes that decisions regarding the accommodation of transgenders be made at the level closest to the issue. 

This would give schools the authority to accommodate transgender students who want to use bathrooms based on gender identity, not sex assignment at birth, on a case-by-case basis.