Politics & Government
New Transgender Law Causes Uproar Among Some Local Republican Lawmakers
AB 1266 allows transgender public schoolchildren to choose male or female restrooms and locker rooms, and allows them to choose whether to play boys' or girls' sports.
Murrieta's Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez is "saddened" by legislation signed into law Monday that allows California's transgender schoolchildren to choose whichever restroom and locker room they want.
The legislation, AB 1266, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Monday, making California the first state in the nation to give transgender public school kids in K-12 these rights.
The new law also allows transgender students to choose whether they want to play boys' or girls' sports.
While supporters say the law will help reduce bullying and discrimination, some local Republican lawmakers are not too happy.
Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Assemblywoman Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, said in a blog on Patch, "I find this law to be a violation of the safety, security and privacy of the very youth we have been elected to protect.
"I do not believe our schools should be used as a test bed for societal experiments," she continued.
Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“My 13- and 16-year-old boys were horrified at the idea of sharing a bathroom and locker room with a member of the opposite sex, after having discussed AB 1266 with them. While trying to address a concern of less than 2 percent of the population, California is now forcibly violating the rights of the other 98 percent," Donnelly wrote on the website WND.
Click here to read the text of the bill.
—Toni McAllister
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