Heterosexual Supremacists Claim Enough Signatures To Force Transgender Referendum

Over the summer Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1266 into law. AB 1266 was sponsored by openly gay legislator Tom Ammiano of San Francisco and is also known as the Student Success and Opportunity Act; its primary purpose is expand the Los Angeles Unified School District's policy of allowing students to participate in school-based activities in a way that conforms with their gender identity, regardless of sex. It is the first transgender student bill of rights that has been enacted statewide in the country.

So, of course, heterosexual supremacists, who have previously (unsuccessfully) tried to repeal legislation that insures that all California students be informed about the historic contributions of LGBT Californians and the establishment of May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, were outraged by AB 1266 and vowed to pursue a referendum to prevent the law from going into effect and eventually overturning it at the ballot box.

Over the weekend PrivacyforallStudents.com announced that they have collected 620,000 signatures, which is more than the 505,000 needed to qualify a referendum on AB 1266, but less than the 700,000 that most campaign experts think that you need to assure qualification. If the measure does qualify, then a ballot question would be on the November 2014 ballot.

It should be noted that the people who were responsible for Proposition 8, such as political strategist Frank Schubert (who has been the campaign manager for almost all of the anti-gay marriage ballot measures of the last 5 years all over the country) and the National Organization for Marriage, have all been active in the movement to repeal AB 1266.

As I have said before, the fight over marriage equality and LGBT equality is intimately linked to the role of gender in society. Heterosexual supremacists and homophobes  often base their arguments in patriarchal views of the world and espouse a conservative ideology about the roles of males and females in society. Same-sex marriage and LGBT equality directly challenge what these people feel about what a "real man" and a "real woman" should be and this explains the visceral and virulent nature of their opposition. Of course, their view is that men and women are different in various ways, with men being superior to women. They oppose the central tenet of feminism that men and women should be treated equally under law and that all people should be able to reach their full potential, regardless of their gender.

As the ultimate successful disposition of marriage equality becomes clearer, the people who have based their professional lives in fighting against marriage equality and LGBT equality will begin to focus on related but adjacent issues, such as enhancing the role of religious belief in the public square and attempting to institutionalize their sexist beliefs in public policy.

Of course, the political fight over AB 1266 will have a direct impact on gender non-conforming children in California schools.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God