A measure requiring schools to inform parents of their children’s gender identity and limited health care for transgender youth failed to garner enough signature support to qualify for the November ballot, supporters said Tuesday.
The proposal seeks to notify parents if their child changes his or her name or pronouns at school or is required to use facilities or play sports that do not match the gender in official records. It would also prohibit California doctors from prescribing hormones or otherwise providing gender-affirming care to minors.
In order for the measure to qualify for the ballot, backers must submit the signatures of more than 500,000 registered voters by Tuesday, a deadline set by the California Secretary of State.
The campaign fell short of its goal but has collected more than 400,000 signatures, said Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville school board member who is leading the initiative.
“If we had more time and more money, we could easily qualify to vote,” he said.
Zachreson said the initiative has the support of tens of thousands of volunteers, with the counties that have collected the most signatures including Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino.
But the measure has always been a politically unlikely goal in left-leaning California, which has some of the strongest LGBTQ+ protections in the nation.
Zachreson said the campaign raised $200,000, a paltry amount in a state where some past ballot measure campaigns have garnered hundreds of millions of dollars in support.
Supporters of the measure are trying to bring to the statewide level the Republican-backed debate over “parental rights” that has been taking place on school boards in California’s conservative districts. California Democrats, in turn, have worked to block gender notification policies being considered by several school boards, measures they say would be harmful to transgender students because they may feel safe in school but not at home.
Last week, Democratic state lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a bill that would ban such school policies and protect teachers from retaliation for supporting transgender students as lawsuits over the issue are pending across the state.
The legislation was enacted after the California Attorney General. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last year against the Chino School District, alleging that its parent notification policy was discriminatory and violated civil rights and privacy laws.
Bonta also questioned the ballot title of a proposed measure that failed to pass on Tuesday. Last month, a Sacramento Superior Court judge tentatively sided with Bonta, who called the measure an initiative to “restrict the rights of transgender youth,” while supporters wanted to call it the “Protect California Children Act.”
Zackreson said supporters plan to appeal the decision. He said they will “absolutely” continue to push for similar ballot measures in the future and are now throwing their weight behind opposition to state legislation introduced last week.
They hope to get financial support from billionaire Elon Musk, who has Criticizing health care for transgender youth.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups warn that the parental rights debate over gender identity is harmful to young people who already face high suicide rates.
Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, said in a statement: “Across the country and in California, LGBTQ+ young people are under attack from extremist politicians and school boards who seek to ban books, intimidate teachers, and discourage trans youth from being themselves in school. .
