What is the current law regarding this issue?
In 2013 AB 1266 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano was signed into law. A Referendum was filed to halt AB 1266 and place it on the ballot for the people of California to vote on. Enough signatures were gathered to qualify this referendum. (What is a referendum? The popular referendum is a device which allows voters to approve or repeal an act of the Legislature. If the Legislature passes a law that voters do not approve of, they may gather signatures to demand a popular vote on the law. NCSL.org) But, the Secretary of State and the counties have wrongfully thrown out thousands of signatures claiming we came up short. There is currently a court challenge to the disqualification of signatures by elections officials. AB 1266 allows students to use any and ALL facilities in public schools based upon their gender identity. These facilities include: showers, locker rooms, and restrooms. There are no qualifications or boundaries, and no consideration for the privacy of other students. Activists are using scare tactics to bully schools into implementing forced co-ed facilities immediately.
Public facilities outside of public schools are also being targeted by groups fighting to open up these facilities to both sexes while leaving the signs separating male and female facilities intact. These groups claim that insisting males and females use these facilities in accordance with their biological sex rather than their gender identity is akin to discrimination. Providing separate facilities for males and females is a long-standing cultural norm. Society expects these facilities to contain a certain amount of privacy, including not being open to the opposite sex. A woman not wanting to use the same dressing or showering area as a man is not discrimination.
What’s wrong with co-ed bathrooms?
Historically, facilities in which people can reasonably be in a state of undress, have been separated by biological sex. Those advocating the change have not demanded taking down the “Men” and “Women” signs on facility doors. They are advocating that despite the signs, people be allowed to use these facilities in accordance with their gender identity. If instituted, the signs on these facility doors provide a false sense of privacy and protection. If a woman walks into a bathroom with a “Women” sign on the door, she has a reasonable expectation that she will not encounter men in this restroom.
