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Know Your Rights in California Schools!

With the new school year upon us and the tragic reality of bullying in schools across the country, student safety is at the forefront of our minds.

TLC at 2009 Queer Youth Advocacy Day
California law protects transgender and gender non-conforming students and teachers in California public and charter schools from discrimination and harassment. These protections cover all school-related programs and activities, including extracurricular activities like student clubs. Unfortunately, students and school officials are often unaware of these legal protections--as a result they may not be enforced. This is why it is so important for you to know what rights you and your friends have.

 Here are some specifics:
  • If a transgender student is being harassed by other students or by a school official because the harasser thinks the student doesn't look or dress the way a girl or boy "should" look or dress, the school has to do something to stop the harassment. This could mean disciplining the harasser or providing mandatory training to students about why harassment is unacceptable behavior.
  • School officials are required to let a student wear clothing that matches the student's gender identity, and cannot refuse to call the student by the appropriate name and pronoun.
  • A school has to provide a transgender or gender non-conforming student with access to a safe and appropriate restroom and locker room or an appropriate alternative place in which to change for gym class.
  • California schools have a legal duty to intervene to try and stop gender identity-based discrimination and harassment once it is brought to their attention.
If you are harassed or discriminated against in a public school or charter school in California because of your gender identity, you can make a complaint. First, you must file a complaint with your school. If your school does not adequately address the issue or does not have a process for making a complaint, you can file a complaint with your school district. And, if that doesn't work, or they don't make the process clear to you, can can go directly to the California Department of Education. If a student or teacher whom you know experiences gender identity-based discrimination, you can call TLC for help with the complaint process.

It is critical that schools have policies protecting transgender and gender non-conforming students to help prevent discrimination and harassment BEFORE it happens. To learn more about laws and strategies for making a safe school environment, see TLC's publication, Beyond the Binary: A Toolkit for Gender Identity and Activism at Schools. The publication is available here.
Additionally, the California Safe Schools Coalition has created an excellent model policy on transgender and gender non-conforming students that you can give to your school district to help prevent discrimination.  It's available here.

For more information about the rights of transgender students in California public and charter schools, please click here.

Not a student in California?

If you have questions about what rights you have in the state where you reside, we recommend that you contact Lambda Legal or GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network).



Legislative Updates: 1 Victory, 1 Set-Back:

Last night, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the Mental Health Services for At-Risk Youth Act (SB 543) into law. This law expands access to essential mental health services for youth ages 12-17 by allowing them to obtain counseling without parental consent. SB 543 was introduced by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and was co-sponsored by Equality California, the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter, Mental Health America of Northern California, and the GSA network. Community members who participated in May's Transgender Advocacy Day (organized by the Transgender Law Center) spoke with their legislators in support of this act. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are approximately four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers--and while high-quality corresponding data does not exist for transgender youth, anecdotal evidence indicates that transgender youth are even more at risk for suicidality than their LGB peers.

Last Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Prisoner Safety Act (AB 633). Introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), the bill was designed to prevent violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and especially transgender people in the state prison system. The bill received bipartisan support in both the State Senate and Assembly and is co-sponsored by the Transgender Law Center, Equality California, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Transgender people are thirteen times more likely to be sexually assaulted in prison than non-transgender inmates. Read more about the veto here.


Profile of a TLC Client:
Jen�*

Jen� is a long-time employee of the state of California who currently lives and works in rural Northern California. She and her wife had been married for 19 years when her wife transitioned from male to female. They have now been married for 25 years.

Jen� contacted the Transgender Law Center after her employer informed her that her marriage was no longer considered valid for the purpose of health benefits, and that she would have to start paying for her wife's insurance coverage. Her employer also threatened that she would have to pay back taxes on benefits that had "improperly" been covered for the past 6 years. Not only would this have resulted in unanticipated economic hardship for the couple and their children, but it also had the potential to leave Jen�'s wife uninsured and unable to access private insurance coverage because of being transgender. However, under California law, the only two ways to terminate a marriage are divorce or death. The fact that a spouse transitions--even if that makes the marriage in effect a same-gender one--does not invalidate a marriage that has been lawfully established.

TLC contacted Jen�'s employer and its office of Legal Counsel and worked to provide the department with case law establishing that Jen�'s marriage was still valid. California State Senator Mark Leno's office also contacted the department, as well as the state controller's office, to advocate on Jen�'s behalf. After months of advocacy, Jen�'s spousal health benefits were restored, and money that had been wrongly deducted from her paycheck was restored. An investigation is currently being conducted to find out how they were initially terminated. 

After this positive resolution, Jen� wrote to TLC to say: "Thank you for your assistance and feedback regarding this whole situation. It was a horrible, traumatic experience to go through this situation and I am very glad you were there to help me through it." TLC is also extremely thankful to Senator Leno's office for their assistance and support in resolving this matter.


* This client agreed to be profiled with her first name only.


Do you have a legal question?
 Contact TLC's legal staff for free advice and referrals at 415.865.0176 or by emailing [email protected].


Please note: TLC keeps case and client information strictly confidential. Before sharing any information about clients or cases, we either obtain explicit permission to do so from the client (and honor any requests for anonymity or to withhold information) or obscure any identifying information.






Buy a ticket TODAY
for yourself and
for your community!


Celebrate 8 years of
transgender civil rights advocacy

Friday, October 22nd, 7-9pm
VIP reception 6-7pm


Click HERE to buy tickets:
VIP Tickets: $150/person
Regular Tickets: $100/person
Low-Income Tickets: $50/person

Can't make it yourself?
Please donate to support TLC's
work and to allow low-income community members to attend!


Please visit our website for more information, including award recipients.

The Transgender Law Center is a
501(3)c non-profit organization, and as such donations are fully tax-deductible and tickets are partially tax-deductible.

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Thank you to our event sponsors!
Gold Sponsors

BALIF logo   The Endup logo

Silver Sponsors
Comcast
Gloss Magazine
Lyon-Martin Health Services
Michael L. Brownstein, M.D., FACS
SEIU Local 1021 Lavender Caucus

Bronze Sponsors
Gender Spectrum
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
San Francisco LGBT Community Center
Celebrate the opening of the nation's first store to prioritize hiring transgender workers...
or find a job yourself!




The San Francisco-based Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative (TEEI) is a collaboration between the Transgender Law Center, Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, and SFTEAM.

Castro Goodwill Store & Donation Center Grand Opening
Saturday, October 2, 11:30am
2278 Market St, San Francisco (between Church and Castro)
 
Through this collaboration, Goodwill has hired transgender community members to work at the Castro Pop Up Store. Come be a part of the nation's first store focused upon hiring transgender community members that face extreme barriers to employment. Please join us in celebrating this historic event!

TLGB Job Fair 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 11am
SF LGBT Community Center

The event is free and open to all, but job seekers must bring a resum� to attend. We also encourage you to pre-register at http://jobfair.sfcenter.org, and to attend TEEI's free Pre Job Fair Workshop on October 6th, 2-4pm at the Center. Good luck!

Have you been enrolled in Healthy San Francisco? Do you know transgender people who have been?
San Francisco's HEALTH Council (a partnership between the Transgender Law Center, Lyon-Martin Health Services, and community members) is working to find a way for Healthy San Francisco to begin covering transition-related care for people who are enrolled in their health plan.
 
Surveying transgender people who are currently (or who were formerly) enrolled in Healthy San Francisco will help provide an accurate picture of people's experience while enrolled in Healthy San Francisco, specifically around their transition related health care. 

You can take the survey online at http://tinyurl.com/HSFtrans-survey, or fill out the hard-copy version (administered by HEALTH Council members) at Tom Waddell, Dimensions, Lyon-Martin and Trans:Thrive over the next 2 weeks.
 
Please forward this information to any individuals or groups who may be interested in sharing their experiences with Healthy San Francisco. This information will help to ensure that transition related health care is affordable and accessible for all transgender people in San Francisco.

Support TLC's education work, legal services, and public policy advocacy efforts.


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About TLC
The Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. TLC uses direct legal services, education, community organizing and advocacy to transform California into a state that recognizes and supports the needs of transgender people and their families. www.transgenderlawcenter.org