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Petition
Drive To Repeal
Calif.
Bully Law Fails
Legal
Threat Continues
From the
Web, January 12, 2008
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Sacramento, California -- A
conservative Christian group has failed to collect enough signatures to force a
vote to repeal a California law protecting students from discrimination,
harassment and bullying in publicly-funded schools.
But a legal challenge to the law is still before the courts.
Save Our Kids, the organization that spearheaded the referendum effort says it
collected over 350,000 signatures to overturn the law -- far short of the
required 434,000 signatures that had to be turned in on Friday.
The Student Civil Rights Act, passed and signed into law by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger last year, mandates that teachers and school administrators fully
understand their responsibilities to protect LGBT youth.
Various California laws have prohibited discrimination in public education on
the basis of sexual orientation, gender, religion, race, disability and gender
for a number of years.
But in some instances school administrators have been unclear about all the laws
and what they need to do to fight bullying. The Student Civil Rights Act
updated the existing Education Code to bring all the discrimination laws under
one section.
Opponents of the law have claimed it will force schools to "promote
homosexuality" and to "persecute Christians who oppose homosexuality".
"Opponents of SB 777 have been spreading misinformation and outright lies for
months, and whether they actually collected 350,000 signatures, we will never
know," said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors.
"What is clear is that they failed. Despite their vicious attack,
Californians stood with us and said 'no' to turning back the clock on civil
rights and protecting all youth from discrimination in our schools."
While the voter initiative to repeal the law has failed, a lawsuit brought by
another conservative Christian group remains before the courts.
In a lawsuit against the state of California filed in November in San Diego,
Advocates for Faith and Freedom and the Alliance Defense Fund claim portions of
the legislation -- particularly those covering "gender identity" -- are
unconstitutionally vague and violate student privacy.
The suit was filed on behalf of several teachers and one student.
It claims that teachers and school administrators would be forced to determine
whether a student perceives him or herself to be male or female and could lead
to problems in school washrooms and gym changing rooms.
Late Friday, Attorney General Ed Brown filed a motion to dismiss the suit.
The court has not ruled on the motion or on a petition filed in December by
Equality California, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and
the Transgender Law Center seeking intervenor status if the case goes to trial.
According to the 2001 California Healthy Kids Survey, nearly 30 percent of
California youth in grades seven to 11 report experiencing harassment or
bullying based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion,
disability, gender or sexual orientation.
"With a third of California’s students facing harassment or even violence, it’s
offensive that our opponents are wasting taxpayer dollars making an issue out of
this," said Brian Chase, Senior Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal.
"This law protects all kids, and this attempt to strip away badly-needed
protections is hateful and mean-spirited."
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