Transgender rights repeal misses California ballot
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A referendum to overturn a California law that gives transgender students protections including the right to use the public school restrooms of their choice will not appear on the November ballot after its backers failed to gather enough voter signatures to qualify the measure, the secretary of state said Monday.
The law's opponents were led by a coalition of religious conservative groups who said it violates the privacy of youngsters who may be uncomfortable sharing facilities with classmates of the opposite biological sex. They needed at least 504,760 signatures to force a public vote on the statute approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year. They submitted 619,381, but county election officers found just 487,484 of them to be valid.
If the referendum had made the ballot, the law would have been put on hold until after the election as its supporters and opponents mounted a campaign that promised to be as bitterly fought as the one over Proposition 8, the 2008 constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in California until last year.
Read the rest at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRANSGENDER_STUDENT_LAW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-24-20-06-50
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Never!
