State Of California Enshrines Rights For Transgender Student

On August 12, 2013, the Governor of California approved amendments to the California Education Code that provides certain rights for transgender students from kindergarten through grade 12.¹ The law requires public schools to permit students to access the washroom of their choice and participate in sex-segregated activities according to their own sense of gender identity, regardless of the gender listed in a student's records.

The amendment to section 221.5 of California's Education Code states as follows:

221.5.

1. It is the policy of the state that elementary and secondary school classes and courses, including nonacademic and elective classes and courses, be conducted, without regard to the sex of the pupil enrolled in these classes and courses.