Along with decisions about what to eat for lunch and which clubs to join, California public school students may soon may be allowed to choose which gender they would like to be.
The California legislature has passed a bill, AB 1266, that would require all public schools to allow youths to choose which gender-segregated facilities and activities fit their "identity," including restrooms, locker rooms and sports teams. The bill awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown to be enacted into law.
Eighth grade teacher Valerie Vislay Jones said the bill sounds like a nightmare, especially for girls.
"Bathroom breaks are chaotic enough! This brings on a whole host of new discipline problems. And what about that time of the month? I can see boys using the girls' restroom just to be funny, and then there would be no privacy for the girls. Adolescent boys do not understand the whole menstruation thing anyway, and adolescent girls do NOT want boys to know that they menstruate. Way to make adolescence even more confusing."
She continued, "What adolescent boy wouldn't love to get into the girls' locker room?"
As a teacher, she said the law would be an enforcement disaster.
"I have enough to keep track of in the morning, then to add this. Now, my morning would include this phrase, 'Don't forget to make your lunch choice and gender choice.'"
She asked, "Why does our culture insist on letting children make important decisions or have a say in everything?"
Larry Lunt remembers being in high school and thinks the law is a recipe for disaster.
"Does this mean that teenage boys with raging hormones will be free to say, 'I'm a girl today' and use the girls'/womens' restrooms/locker rooms, etc.? That's absurd."
David Henderson of Anondale, Va., thinks the new law would discriminate against boys.
"I can honestly say that I would have declared myself a female for the day if I could go into the girl's locker room. My raging teenage hormones would have left me no choice."
In Europe, many schools have mixed locker facilities, but they include a row of private changing rooms. The new bill passed by the California legislature will not include such protections from harassment, objectification and molestation.
WND has reported on the redefinition of gender bias in bills such as one that allows same-sex couples to be classified as "infertile" for the purpose of receiving benefits.
WND also has reported developments in California schools such as offering free cars to students for attendance and drafting students to promote Obamacare to their families.
But allowing students to choose their gender, whether 6 or 17, is a new one, even for California.
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute said the law is in direct violation of the principle of protecting children. He says it is all about appeasing the vocal and powerful LGBT lobby.
Jack Watts, a Christian author and culture critic, agrees.
"The real war is not on women, but on men, particularly young boys," he said. "By purposefully obscuring the lines of their male identity, we will be creating a nation of sexually confused men who will be unable to sustain a male-female relationship. The only winners will be divorce lawyers."
The bill comes as California is losing population. Census data showed that since 1990, the state has lost almost 3.4 million people to other states. California is the only state not replacing its own population, with about 225,000 leaving each year. More politically conservative states such as Texas and North Carolina are inheriting the disgruntled Californians.
Leon O'Dell is one of those former California residents. He said the bill only validates his decision to have left the state years ago.
"This entire sick scenario makes me glad I left my home state. I have no desire to return there. California is the laughing stock and an embarrassment," he said.
Jim Bellano, a former assistant professor of political science at Western University, said that the California Legislature has "redefined the 'ABC's' and the '3 R's' of education to 'LGBT.'"
"Will the signs on the bathrooms and locker rooms be replaced with rip-a-way daily calendars?"
Matthew McReynolds, an attorney for Pacific Justice Foundation, tried to fight the bill. He said the legislation completely disregards the privacy of the students who are not transgender or "gender-questioning."
He argued that "these students (and their parents) have reasonable expectations that they will not be forced to share intimate spaces with members of the opposite biological and anatomical gender."
McReynolds contends that "there are no safeguards whatsoever in the legislation that would allow responsible adults, including coaches, teachers, chaperones, school administrators and others to act in the best interests of all students."
"Even the most liberal politician should see that allowing boys and girls as young as 5, or as astute as 17, to be able to pick and choose which gender's bathroom to use is outrageous."
Some found the legislation so absurd that they could only laugh at it.
Nick Kasoff, a political analyst from St. Louis, Mo., referenced "sexting" New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner: "The big question is, will Carlos Danger move to California and try to pass as a high school student?"
Clarence Walls considers himself a political observer, and he had this observation of the California legislation: "Stupidity, like morality, has no gender."
The bill is not the first "gender identity" legislation adopted in California.
The Pacific Justice Institute has launched a site, GenderInsanity.com, to bring attention to California's actions.
Earlier moves by the state include SB 48, which requires positive portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in class.
Others cited by the pro-family SaveCalifornia.com are:
- SB 543, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, "allows school staff to remove children ages 12 and up from government schools and taken off-campus for counseling sessions, without parental permission or involvement."
- ACR 82, approved by the California Legislature in 2010, "creates de facto 'morality-free zones' at participating schools (pre-kindergarten through public universities). Schools that become official 'Discrimination-Free Zones' will 'enact procedures' (including mandatory counseling) against students from pre-kindergarten on up who are accused of 'hate,' 'intolerance,' or 'discrimination.'" The definition of "hate" includes peacefully speaking or writing against the unnatural lifestyles choices of homosexuality and bisexuality.
- SB 572, signed by Schwarzenegger in 2009, establishes "Harvey Milk Day" in K-12 California public schools and community colleges. In classrooms, schools and school districts that participate, children are taught to admire the life and values of late homosexual activist and teen predator Harvey Milk of San Francisco in the month of May.
- SB 777, signed by Schwarzenegger in 2007, prohibits all public school instruction and every school activity from "promoting a discriminatory bias" against (effectively requiring positive depictions of) transsexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality to schoolchildren as young as five years old.
- AB 394, signed by Schwarzenegger in 2007, effectively promotes transsexual, bisexual and homosexual indoctrination of students, parents and teachers via "anti-harassment" and "anti-discrimination" materials, to be publicized in classrooms and assemblies, posted on walls, incorporated into curricula on school websites, and distributed in handouts to take home.
- SB 71, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and implemented in 2008 through the new "sexual health" standards approved by appointees of Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, teaches children as young as fifth grade that any consensual sexual behavior is "safe" as long as you "protect" yourself with a condom, and teaches children that homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality is "normal."
- AB 1785, signed by Davis in 2000, required the California State Board of Education to alter the state curriculum frameworks to include and require "human relations education" for children in K-12 public schools, with the aim of "fostering an appreciation of the diversity of California's population and discouraging the development of discriminatory attitudes and practices," according to the state legislative counsel's digest.
- AB 537, signed by Davis in 1999, permits teachers and students to openly proclaim and display their homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality, even permitting cross-dressing teachers, school employees and student on campus, in classrooms, and in restrooms.
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