Republican lawmakers across the country have introduced more than 400 bills to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people in the current legislative cycle, according to Human rights observer. One of them is Assembly Bill 1314, a hateful proposal by California Assemblymen Bill Essayli (R-Corona) and James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) to force teachers, counselors and other school personnel to notify parents if their child is transgender.
Apparently, the state’s Republicans aren’t as concerned about privacy as they pretend.
Under the bill, notification would be triggered if any school employee discovers that a student identifies as a different gender than that listed in official school records or if a student participates in a gender-segregated school program or team. athletic or use facilities that do not align with the official gender of the student. Turning school staff into the gender police will do nothing to improve education and will add yet another task to already overworked school teachers and other staff.
The bill also runs counter to California’s anti-discrimination laws intended to protect LGBTQ students, which prohibit schools from revealing a student’s transgender identity, including to parents, without consent. And with good reason. Revealing a student’s transgender identity means that It is more likely be harassed and bullied, and may violate a student’s right to privacy.
Fortunately, such a hateful bill is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature, and was probably introduced only to irritate California liberals who still believe that all people have equal rights to privacy and privacy. bodily autonomy regardless of gender or sexual orientation. .
But the chilling thing is that bills targeting transgender youth have a chance of becoming law in other states. This week alone, the Republican-controlled Georgia Legislature sent to the governor an anti-transgender bill that would ban certain gender-affirming health care for minors. Despite opposition from medical groups such as the American Medical Association. and the American Academy of PediatricsSaying these health care procedures are medically necessary to help transgender people stay healthy, similar bills have been passed in Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee.
Not surprisingly, the California LGBTQ Legislative Caucus and Equality California are among the groups that have denounced the bill for its potential to cause serious harm to transgender students. These students are at higher risk of considering suicide, particularly when they do not feel supported at home and school. And that is sadly common; only 1 in 3 transgender and non-binary youth feel supported by their home, according to a national youth mental health survey conducted by the Project Trevor. Students should have the freedom to choose to reveal their gender identity when they feel they are in a supportive environment and not one that will trigger negative repercussions.
Shame on these California legislators for pushing a petty bill to score political points from their conservative constituency. Laws intended to punish students who express gender non-conforming behavior have no place in California or anywhere else.
