{"id":43469,"date":"2013-09-24T21:23:54","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T04:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=43469"},"modified":"2013-09-24T21:47:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T04:47:12","slug":"local-officials-push-effort-to-repeal-transgender-student-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/09\/24\/local-officials-push-effort-to-repeal-transgender-student-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Local officials push effort to repeal transgender student law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sen.<\/a>
Sen. Steve Knight speaks at a press conference in front of Antelope Valley High School Tuesday afternoon to launch a local effort to protect children’s privacy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Local elected officials and community leaders are asking for your help in fighting a new law that allows transgender students access to school programs, activities, locker rooms and bathrooms, based on their gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a Republican issue, this is a parent issue,\u201d said Sen. Steve Knight<\/strong>. \u201cIf you\u2019re a parent at home and you\u2019ve got a 15-year-old daughter, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re thinking about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Designating<\/a>
Designating a third neutral facility is deemed discrimination, thus threatening the privacy rights of all public school children, Runner said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Knight joined Board of Equalization member George Runner<\/strong> and dozens of school officials, parents and teachers Tuesday afternoon in launching a local effort to \u201cprotect children\u2019s privacy\u201d \u2013 namely by attempting to overturn Assembly Bill 1266.<\/p>\n

AB 1266, also known as the School Success and Opportunity Act<\/em>, amends a section of the Education Code to permit a student to \u201cparticipate 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\u2019s records.\u201d The law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.<\/p>\n

\""Where<\/a>
“Where do your rights end and mine begin?” Hearns asked.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bill\u2019s author, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), says the new law is intended as a clarification of existing California law that bans discrimination against transgender students in public schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had children testify in the Assembly and Senate that this law will mean they no longer must hide who they are, nor be treated as someone other than who they are,\u201d Ammiano said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Unified School District, the state\u2019s largest, has had such a policy in effect for nearly a decade and it has solved problems without causing new problems, according to Ammiano.<\/p>\n

Not so, said officials at Tuesday\u2019s press conference. They say AB 1266 threatens public school students\u2019 privacy in restrooms, locker rooms, gym showers and even on overnight school trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two things we expect in a bathroom are privacy and comfort. We\u2019ve just taken that away from 99.99 percent of the student population in public schools,\u201d Knight said. \u201cThat\u2019s not fair to our kids; it\u2019s not fair to parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is it a poor law in regards to what I think are the basic values that we have as citizens, but it\u2019s actually a very poorly drafted piece of legislation that cannot be implemented effectively at all,\u201d Runner said.<\/p>\n

Fred Jarimillo<\/strong>, an eighth grade teacher in the Palmdale School District, said the new law was not needed because there were already measures in place to protect transgender students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not necessary because right now if a kid doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s a boy, or she doesn\u2019t feel like she\u2019s a girl, she can go to the health office and use the facilities there,\u201d Jarimillo said, adding that the new law was dangerous and needed to be repealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like this bill violates my right to privacy,\u201d\u00a0said Eastside High School student Holly Monte<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The group is calling on residents to support a referendum filed by the\u00a0Privacy For All Students coalition\u00a0to overturn AB 1266. The coalition has until November 12 to submit the signatures of about a half a million voters to qualify the referendum. If the signatures are gathered, the new law will be suspended and would appear on the November 2014 statewide ballot, where voters would have the opportunity to approve or reject the legislation.<\/p>\n

To help qualify the referendum, visit Privacyforallstudents.com\/sign-the-petition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opponents of AB 1266 say parents can further protect their children by submitting a \u201cNotice of Reasonable Expectation of Privacy\u201d to teachers and other school officials.<\/p>\n

View the Notice of Privacy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also attended Tuesday\u2019s press conference in opposition of AB 1266 were Lancaster councilmembers Marvin Crist<\/strong> and Sandra Johnson<\/strong>, Palmdale councilmember Tom Lackey<\/strong>, Lancaster Mayor Emeritus Henry Hearns<\/strong> and several members from local school boards, including Antelope Valley High School board members Barbara Willibrand<\/strong>, Donita Winn<\/strong> and Jim Lott<\/strong>, Westside Union School District board member Joan Sodergren<\/strong>, and \u00a0Lancaster School District board member Keith Giles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For the full text of AB 1266, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Local elected officials and community leaders are asking for your help in fighting a new law that allows transgender students access to school programs, activities, locker rooms and bathrooms, based on their gender identity. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a Republican issue, this is a parent issue,\u201d said Sen. Steve Knight. \u201cIf you\u2019re a parent at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}