Skelton: Transgender issue could be headed for ballot
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Five years ago, the major social issue on the ballot was Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that banned gay marriage in California until it was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.
Next year, it may be a referendum on a new law involving transgender students. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill allowing students to participate in school programs and use school facilities that match their gender identity, not their physical sex.
For example, a student who was born male but is transgender and lives as a female would be able to use the girl’s bathroom. Conservatives want the law overturned at the ballot.
In his Monday column, George Skelton acknowledges the confusion and mistrust caused by the issue.
“For many, this merely amounts to more liberal excess in Sacramento,” he writes.
But for transgender students who feel ostracized in their schools, Skelton says, it’s a vital issue.
“Doesn’t Sacramento have more important problems to solve?” he writes. “Maybe not if you’re a transgender kid whose gender identity doesn’t conform to your sex organs of birth.”
All of Skelton’s columns are here.
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