In August, Governor Jerry Brown of California signed into law the first statute in the United States ensuring transgender students access to facilities and activities consistent with their gender identity (as opposed to their biological sex) in any school that receives public funding. This effectively allows, for example, a person who is physically a male but identifies as a female to use female restrooms and play on female sports teams. Though it passed the state senate 21–9, according to Bloomberg News, there has been a growing effort to repeal via referendum a law that doesn’t sit well with many Californians.
When asked why he wanted to appeal the measure, Dough Boyd, a lawyer circulating petitions against it, said he couldn’t stomach the idea of his child being in the locker room, sharing showers with members of the opposite sex. “It’s just fundamentally wrong,” he said.
Advocates for repeal have until November 10 to gather enough signatures to get it on the November 2013 ballot as a referendum measure. The law goes into effect January 1, 2014.