A measure that would have required schools to notify parents of their children's gender identity and limit health care for transgender youth failed to gain enough signatures in support to qualify for the November vote, its proponents said Tuesday.
The proposal sought to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns at school or requests to use facilities or play sports that do not match their gender in official records. It would also have prohibited California doctors from prescribing hormones or providing gender-affirming care to minors.
For the measure to qualify for the vote, proponents had to submit the signatures of more than half a million registered voters by Tuesday, the deadline set by California's secretary of state.
The campaign wasn't enough, but it gathered more than 400,000 signatures, according to Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville school board member who was leading the effort.
“If we had a little more time and a little more money, we would have easily qualified for the elections,” he said.
Zachreson said the initiative was supported by tens of thousands of volunteers, with the largest number of signatures collected in counties such as Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino.
But the measure was always a political long shot in left-leaning California, home to some of the strongest LGBTQ+ protections in the country.
The campaign raised $200,000, according to Zachreson, a paltry figure in a state where some previous ballot measure campaigns have had hundreds of millions of dollars in support.
Supporters of the measure sought to bring to the state level Republican-backed debates over “parental rights” that have been playing out on school boards in conservative parts of California. California Democrats, in turn, have fought to thwart gender notification policies considered by several school boards, measures they said are harmful to transgender students who may feel safe at school but not at home.
Last week, Democratic state lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a bill seeking to ban such school policies and protect teachers from retaliation for supporting transgender students while lawsuits on the issue are pending across the state.
The legislation comes after the California Bar. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last year against the Chino school district alleging that its parental notification policy was discriminatory and violated civil rights and privacy laws.
Bonta also questioned the title of the proposed measure that was not carried out on Tuesday. Last month, a Sacramento Superior Court judge tentatively sided with Bonta, who titled the measure the “Restricting the Rights of Transgender Youth” initiative, while supporters wanted to call it the “Protect Children from Transgender Act.” California”.
Zachreson said his supporters plan to appeal that decision. They will “absolutely” continue to push for similar ballot measures in the future and are now throwing their weight behind the state legislation introduced last week, he said.
They expect financial support from billionaire Elon Musk, who has He criticized medical care for transgender youth.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have warned that parental rights debates over gender identity are harmful to young people who already face high suicide rates.
“Across the country and here in California, LGBTQ+ youth are under attack by extremist politicians and school boards who seek to ban books, terrorize teachers, and make transgender youth afraid to be themselves in school,” he said in Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang said in a statement. .
