School Success and Opportunity Act
The School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), is a California state law which extends gender identity and expression discrimination protection to transgender and gender nonconforming K-12 students in public schools. The bill specifically mentions that classes and activities are to be conducted without regard to one's birth sex as well as allowing transgender students to use bathrooms, locker rooms, and participate in sports that are congruent to their gender identity without regard to their physical sex at birth. The bill was introduced by Asseblyman Tom Ammiano and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law took effect in January 2014.[1]
The law did not come without controversy and criticism though. Groups such as the National Organization for Marriage, SaveCalifornia.com, and the Pacific Justice Institute have all supported a petition to have a ballot initiative to overturn the law. The petition was circulated by the Privacy for All Students Coalition which has worked with the aforementioned groups. By raw count 620,000 signatures were signed while only 505,000 are required to put a referendum on the ballot. If all signatures are deemed valid the initiative will go up on the ballot for the 2014 California Elections.[2] However, they were deemed invalid, and the law is still in place.
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