Opponents of LGBT rights in California have begun yet another attack on transgender folks as the group “Privacy For All” has announced that it has submitted the so-called “Privacy Protection Act” to state election officials and will attempt to gather 365,880 signatures to place the measure on the ballot in 2016.
While the initiative doesn’t use the word “transgender” specifically, it’s clear the intent:
If approved by California voters, the Personal Privacy Protection Act requires that individuals “use facilities in accordance with their biological sex in all government buildings”. The proposed initiative does not require private businesses to maintain sex separated facilities, but protects these businesses from legal action if they do require employees and patrons to “use facilities in accordance with their biological sex.”
“We have great compassion for any person that is uncomfortable in traditional, sex separated facilities.
But we also want to protect the privacy that most of us expect when we are in public bathrooms, showers and dressing areas” said Gina Gleason, a proponent of the initiative.
California’s legislature took an unprecedented step in 2013 by passing AB 1266 that allowed students in California public schools to choose the bathroom, shower and locker room that corresponds to the gender they identify with even if that is different from their biological sex. But that law was put on hold as opponents gathered almost 620,000 voter signatures for a referendum to allow voters to vote on the controversial new law. The matter is currently in court following voter officials rejecting more than one in five signatures to keep the measure off of the November 2014 ballot.
“California voters may have two chances to vote against co-ed bathrooms in 2016” said Karen England, a Privacy For All spokesperson. “We hope to wrap up the court battle over the AB 1266 referendum and place that on the ballot, but we also expect to have this new initiative before the voters at the same time.”
If the voters vote to overturn AB 1266, the new initiative would still be needed to assure privacy in California bathrooms. AB 1266 applied only to facilities at public schools, where the new initiative applies to all government buildings including schools.
This issue has begun to play out across the United States as hate groups turn their attention from their lost position on marriage equality and look for new areas with which to attack LGBT Americans.
The constant shriek of a threat is that without this law, straight men will “dress up” in women’s clothes in order to gain access to women’s bathrooms to peek at young girls peeing or some such thing. There’s no record of this happening anywhere.
Plus, take a look at some transgender folks who will unwillingly cause confusion when they are forced to use “biological sex” bathrooms.
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| Aydian Ethan Dowling was assigned the sex of female at birth. Aydian would be forced to use the ladies room. |
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| Jazz Jennings was assigned the sex of male at birth. She would be forced to use the men’s room. |
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| Michael C. Hughes was assigned “female” at birth. He would be forced to use the ladies’ room. |
