California's right pins hopes on transgender issue Transgender-student fight seen as energizing the base

Campaign co-chair Karen England (left) and volunteers Grace LeFever and Christina Hill sort through petition signatures. Campaign co-chair Karen England (left) and volunteers Grace LeFever and Christina Hill sort through petition signatures. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close California's right pins hopes on transgender issue 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Conservative activists will have a better idea this week of whether their ballot measure to overturn new protections for California's transgender students will appear before voters in November.

If it does, conservatives believe it could change the dynamics of an otherwise sleepy 2014 election year. The result could be a new round in the culture wars that would reverberate nationally - this time, over the rights of the estimated 700,000 transgender Americans.

It would also give California Republicans, facing long odds for major offices such as governor, perhaps their only reason to go to the polls this fall. The state's Republican Party has endorsed overturning the new law.

"This could get voters who wouldn't get out for other issues, but will for this," said Karen England, a longtime conservative activist who is co-chairing the Privacy for All Students campaign to put the measure on the ballot. "And I think this will stop any other state from introducing" similar legislation.

The stakes have been mounting for both sides since Gov. Jerry Brown signed the School Success and Opportunity Act in October. The law took effect Jan. 1, but its impact will be felt first this week as most California public school students return to class from the holiday break.

It is the nation's first state law that requires public schools to let children use sex-segregated facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms, and participate in gender-specific activities, under their gender self-identity. Advocates say it will reinforce existing provisions in state law that are designed to protect transgender students but are only sporadically enforced.

Bullying, suicide attempts

A 2010 national survey found that 59 percent of transgender students reported being bullied at some point at school. More than half of those attempted suicide, according to the study conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Two-thirds of the respondents to a 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute "completely agree" that transgender people "deserve the same rights and protections as other Americans."

Fuzzy awareness

However, the political X factor is that a large chunk of the population doesn't know what transgender means. In that same survey, only 30 percent said they "completely agree" that they are well-informed about transgender people and their issues.

The activists proposing the ballot measure say no student should be bullied. But they are incensed about one aspect of the law: the question of access to restrooms and locker rooms.

To them, the gender on a child's birth certificate trumps self-identification.

In October, former Arkansas Gov. and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told a conservative audience that "it is a good thing (this law) didn't come up when I was in high school. Because I'm pretty sure that every boy in my high school would have suddenly felt that he was just a little more comfortable showering with the girls, no matter how uncomfortable the girls might have been with it."

England, who said the law imposes "San Francisco values" on "every single local school district," concurred.

Access to girls' restroom

"How long have guys been trying to get in the girls bathroom?" she said. "Now they just have to assert that they were the opposite gender and they get access."

Transgender-rights advocates say such parental nightmare scenarios can't happen under the new law. Only students who have consistently asserted a specific gender identity can switch restrooms or locker rooms, they say.

The law's supporters suspect that with public support for gay rights growing, cultural conservatives are using the new law to attract broader political support.

"There's no wedge issue here, but rather the lives of young transgender students who just want to be included like other kids," said John O'Connor, executive director of Equality California, an advocacy group for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

Long-standing policies

Public school systems in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities have had policies similar to the new state law for several years.

The San Francisco Unified School District passed the state's first policies concerning transgender students in the early 1990s. Students who identify consistently and exclusively as a gender other than their birth gender have been allowed to participate in group activities and use facilities associated with their gender identity for years, said Kevin Gogin, the district's director for safety and wellness.

Privacy for All Students submitted petitions in November for a ballot measure that would repeal the state law. By Thursday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen will determine whether a random sampling indicates that they gathered enough support to qualify the proposal for the November 2014 ballot.

Depending on the results, Bowen could order a statewide review of every signature, a process that could take 30 business days. If the measure ultimately lands on the ballot, the law would be put on hold.

Supporters of the law aren't shrinking from a political fight, but they aren't relishing a battle over protections for what they call some of the nation's most vulnerable students.

"If it comes to that, we will be fully prepared to tell our story," said Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center in Oakland. "We will have an opportunity to debunk some of these myths and explain the legal protections that are needed."