On Jan. 1, the struggle for a safer and more inclusive world for transgender students took a step forward with the implementation of a California state law entitled, “School Success and Opportunity Act” (AB 1266). The act reinforces existing laws that have been interpreted as mandating a safe and supportive school environment for transgender, including the right to fully participate in all aspects of school activities.
The bill was supported by a wide range of educational and LGBTQ organizations including the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, Parent Teachers Association, the California Association of School Counselors, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, Transgender Law Center, GSA Network and Gender Spectrum.
There are federal and state laws, Title IX and the California Education Code respectively, which have recently been interpreted as requiring schools to treat transgender students equally and fairly by ensuring that they are allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and use facilities consistent with their gender identity. The issue of bullying and violence, which affects all students, disproportionally affects transgender youth and is a microcosm of the experience many transgender persons face in society in general.
Transgender students disproportionately hurt by bullying
According to the report from the Gay Lebian and Straight Education Network, “Harsh realities: The Experience of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools,” transgender students face a hostile and sometimes violent environment. Over 90 percent of transgender students interviewed heard derogatory remarks about their gender orientation. Almost 40 percent heard school staff make anti-trans remarks. Two-thirds of transgender students felt unsafe in school with more than a quarter reporting physical violence against them in the form of being “punched, kicked or injured with a weapon,” according to the report.
The hostility, harassment and violence that transgender students face in school are not the result of innate human antipathy, but stem from a capitalist society that relies on anti-trans bigotry along with other forms of prejudice and hatred such as homophobia, racism and sexism, to divide and pit working people against each other so that the rich can profit off our labor.
Bigots trying to overturn new law
Right-wing forces have launched a campaign to overturn this new law through a petition drive to put a referendum on the ballot that would void the new law. These bigots are attempting to dismiss and belittle the challenges faced by transgender youth and turn reality upside down by appealing to parents saying that this law will allow boys to go into girls’ locker rooms. The reality is that transgender youth often face harassment and violence when they enter any locker room.
Arguments used by anti-trans bigots are similar to those used by other reactionary forces opposed to progressive social movements. The racist segregationists in South opposed to the civil rights movement and the struggle for integration of facilities appealed to racist views that Blacks and whites could not live, work and play together. Sexists opposed to equal access for women in the workplace appealed to false views of women as being the “weaker sex” and unfounded concern for their reproductive capacity to prevent women from gaining access to better-paying jobs and greater economic freedoms. In response to the modern LGBTQ liberation movement, homophobic bigots used to characterize queer people as child molesters and “social deviants” in an appeal to a false reality aimed at creating fear of and violence against LGBTQ people.
Laws set guidelines for protecting transgender students and providing a safe and nurturing environment. But it is the past organizing by transgender students, their families, supporters and progress communities that has resulted in changes in consciousness in society on the rights of transgender students that has led to legal protections.
It will take the continuing and courageous efforts of transgender students, their families and allies to secure a safe and nurturing environment for transgender students. Catherine Lee, the mother of Ashton Lee, a transgender student, wrote in an op-ed article for the S.F. Chronicle newspaper webapge, “AB1266 will not solve all of the challenges my son faces in life. But it will give his school the guidance and tools it needs to make sure my son is not excluded from the same opportunity for success as other kids.”
