Anti-Equality Groups Have Stooped to Targeting Vulnerable Kids

The United States has a long history of persecuting and stigmatizing people and ideas it doesn’t understand: Islam, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and abortion to name a few. One of the most widely and ferociously debated social issues in the last 30 years is the rights and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. From marriage equality to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, we’ve argued our way through decades of prejudice, persecution and power dynamics, centered on some of the most vulnerable among us. Despite historic wins for equality at the national, state, and local levels, there are still a handful of fringe, anti-equality groups fighting to push the LGBT community to the margins of society, dismissing and dehumanizing their experiences as un-American and irresponsible.

In August, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into in to law AB 1266 – the School Success and Opportunity Act. The law makes sure that all students, including transgender students, have the opportunity to graduate from California’s public schools, by ensuring they can be themselves and fully participate in school facilities and activities such as sports and physical education that match their gender identity. Since then, anti-LGBT groups have taken to targeting transgender students and their families. Sour over their failed efforts to halt marriage equality, they’ve stooped to shaming children.

This backlash of persecution frames transgender students as not deserving of the equal treatment other students receive. This country has long honored the vulnerability of young people, protecting their inherent need to grow and learn through their experiences. Transgender youth are not unlike other students. Understanding what it is like to be a transgender person can be hard, especially if you have never met a transgender person before but what we do know is that if we had a transgender son or daughter, we’d want them to be treated fairly – not mistreated and ostracized by people who don’t understand their experiences.

It’s almost incomprehensible to imagine but these anti-LGBT groups are taking exorbitant measures to overturn AB 1266. Truly, it’s the stuff nightmares are made of. Young people, desperate for a normal school experience, to play sports, hang with their friends, and succeed in school, have become the scapegoats of inequality efforts. Polemic debates that include shaming people about their personal choices usually short stop at children. When did it become open season to target vulnerable young people who can’t fully protect themselves and defend their rights?

California is a fair minded state. Largely, we believe in equality and many California schools already have policies in place to ensure transgender students are able to fully participate. The anti-equality efforts, mostly a waste of taxpayer money, are manipulative scare tactics. California law and existing federal law specify that transgender students must be allowed to participate in all school programs and facilities consistent with their gender identity.

The narratives being crafted around the School Success and Opportunity Act by those who oppose equality are untrue and unfair. All students, no matter where they exist on the gender spectrum, deserve nondiscriminatory treatment in school and equal protection under the law. California has taken a historic step by passing this legislation; let’s not take a step backwards by allowing those who oppose equality to pick on children.

If you want to learn more about the School Success and Opportunity Act, click here.

Shanelle Matthews is the Communications Strategist at the ACLU of Northern California. Follow her at @TheShanelleM