In an example of completely sensible behavior that is not in any way a pearl-clutching overreaction, California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly is pulling at least one of his sons from public school this fall because of the newly-enacted protections for transgender students. Donnelly decided on this course of action when his two teen-aged sons were "horrified" after he told them that they might have to share bathrooms with female students. Which is, of course, an outright lie.
He asserts that the privacy rights of students “will be replaced by the right to be ogled,” though he fails to clarify who will be ogling whom. He also wrote in an article for World Net Daily in which he claimed that, “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,” because as experienced lawmakers know, if a minority is small enough then their rights don't matter.
Donelly, who is considering a bid for governor of California next year, claims that he has heard from a growing number of concerned parents who are also removing their children from school. However, none of the concerned parents were willing to speak publicly about their decisions.
The law, which expands the rights and protections of transgender students, goes into effect on January 1, 2014. The Pacific Justice Institute of Sacramento and California-based Capitol Resource Institute both took actions last week to place a referendum of AB1266 on the California ballot in hopes of overturning the law.
