Despite Petitioners' Best (and Fake) Attempts, Transgender Rights Law Won't Be Repealed

A California law that protected transgender students' rights will not be repealed after an attempt to overturn it failed.

A California law that protected transgender students' rights will not be repealed after an attempt to overturn it failed.

Assembly Bill 1266 was signed into law last August and took effect January 1. It allows students to use facilities or participate in programs according to the gender with which they identify. Frank Schubert, who led the successful Proposition 8 campaign that banned same-sex marriage in California (except not anymore), decided that his next anti-anti-discrimination fight should be the transgender bill.

But this time, unlike Prop 8, he couldn't get enough signatures on the required petition to put a repeal on the November ballot. He needed 504,760 and submitted 619,381 ... but 131,897 of them were deemed not valid by county election officers. Nice try, Schubert.

AB 1266's opponents say it jeopardizes the safety and privacy of students who are "forced" to share facilities with people of the opposite sex. Assembly member Tom Ammiano, who proposed the bill, said those people "should be ashamed" but that at least the fight gave the bill's supporters a chance to educate people on transgender rights. Maybe now its opponents can spend more time learning about that and less time making up signatures.