Hate Disguised As ‘Parental Rights’

Only Sky ✒ A California Anti-LGBT Bill Fails (for now)

Sikivu Hutchinson
13-April-2023

This week, California Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, the head of the Assembly’s Education Committee, refused to schedule a hearing for AB1314, a bill that would have required school officials to notify parents when a child identified as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. Muratsuchi slammed the bill for being “bad policy” and potentially harmful to the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ students.

Days before, the Chino Valley Unified school board in San Bernardino County (which has no legislative say over the bill) voted to approve the bill on a 4-1 vote.

The bill, which was introduced in February by conservative Republican California Assembly members Bill Essayli and James Gallagher, would have revised student privacy protections guaranteed under the California Education Code, allowing adults on school campuses to police and potentially surveil youth. Such a precedent would fundamentally compromise the few safe spaces that exist on California campuses for queer youth. Nationwide, lack of family acceptance is a leading driver of homelessness among trans and queer youth. The implications of AB1314 were quickly seized on by LGBTQ-affirming activists and policymakers.

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