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National Center for Lesbian Rights

Youth

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Legislation & Policy

School Success and Opportunity Act

The School Success and Opportunity Act‚ Assembly Bill 1266 (2013), authored by California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, ensured that transgender students are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. The law requires that school districts provide transgender students with access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-separated activities based on their gender identity. By specifically spelling out those protections, transgender students throughout California can reach their full potential and focus on learning.

All students should have a fair chance to fully participate and succeed in school so that they can graduate with their classmates. Being singled out and treated differently than their peers is detrimental to a transgender student’s psychological, social, and academic well-being and development.

The law went into effect on January 1, 2014.

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Legislation & Policy

The Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools Improvement Act

In response to a number of tragic recent instances of anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment against young people, too many of which resulted the growing rates of absenteeism, dropout, adverse health consequences, and academic underachievement among LGBTQ youth, as well as the lack of adequate federal statutory protections, NCLR has joined many of our colleagues and The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would expressly prohibit discriminatory treatment towards students on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools. Specifically, SNDA would prohibit express harassment against a student based on his or her actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as discriminatory actions that would exclude that student from participation in his or her academic learning. Similarly, SNDA would provide protection for students who brought claims under SNDA and prohibit any retaliatory actions by the school and its employees as a result of those claims.

Congress proposed the Student Non-Discrimination Act to ensure that all students in elementary and secondary schools across the country have equal access to public education, and equal educational opportunities, in an environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation, and violence. Under the Student Non-Discrimination Act, students would have a meaningful legal recourse and effective remedial option in a manner that is similar to other civil rights claims made under the 14th Amendment and the general welfare provision of Article 1, section 8.

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Cases & Advocacy

Student v. Arcadia Unified School District

NCLR represents a transgender middle school student who transitioned from female to male. Although he lived as male and obtained a court-ordered name change, the school district still required that he use the nurse’s office for restroom access and to change in and out of his gym clothes. During an overnight field trip, the student was required to sleep in a separate cabin. In 2011, NCLR filed a complaint on the student’s behalf alleging that the school district’s treatment of the student constituted sex discrimination in violation of Title IX.

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Cases & Advocacy

Davis v. Fleming High School

NCLR represented Kelli Davis, a senior at Fleming High School, who was denied the right to appear in her senior yearbook because she wore a tuxedo rather than stereotypically feminine clothing.

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