The California Law for the Locker Rooms of Transgender Children

Accommodating the needs of all.

In 1999, California amended an existing education statute on nondiscrimination to help in the protection of transgender children. The goal was to allow the same opportunities to transgender or gender non-conforming children while in school so that these children would not feel threatened or harassed. The amendment included a specific section on the locker room and how best to accommodate the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming children.

History

Amending the law

Prior to the amendment, the California statute protected against harassment of students and staff based on sex, ethnic group identification, race, national origin, religion, color or mental or physical disabilities. The act changed the current law by adding the recognition of actual and perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. The California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 was passed in September of 1999 and became effective Jan. 1, 2000.

Identification

Freedom of expression

To adequately protect, the Act had to define gender. The definition of gender was given as "a person's actual sex or perceived sex, and includes a person's perceived identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person's sex at birth." All students who perceived themselves as a different sex other than the one assigned to them at birth or children who choose not to identify themselves with a particular sex at all now have the freedom to express themselves in that manner without fear.

Accommodations

A safe place in the locker room

The amendment requires that transgender or gender non-conforming children are provided with a safe place within the locker room or in the same area as the locker room that corresponds to their gender identity. The children can be provided with a stall that has a door or a curtain, they can be given the opportunity to change before or after everyone else, or they can be given access to a nearby area such as a bathroom or office.

Prohibitions

Some actions are prohibited

To ensure that discrimination does not take place the amendment specifies actions that will not be tolerated. Requiring that a transgender child use a locker room that corresponds to the child's assigned sex at birth rather than the child's gender identity is prohibited. The school staff cannot deny a student the opportunity to participate in physical education, and they are not allowed to force the child to make up the class outside of the assigned class time.

Compliance

Educators and leaders reviewed the law

The California Department of Education assembled an advisory task force group of 35 teachers and community leaders from different parts of California to review the new law and recommend any and all changes needed to comply with the law. The group met over an eight-month period and compiled a 26-page report that included 12 recommendations and corresponding strategies for ensuring every student and staff member of the California schools were protected. The recommendations include educating the staff and students about the new law, updating the school curricula, updating the language used in school policies and adding resources for the staff and students.

References

• California Safe Schools Coalition: Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming
• California Department of Education: California Student Safety and Violence Prevention