Sacramento’s transgender community has spoken out against a proposed ballot measure submitted this Friday by the group Privacy for All to counter Assembly Bill 1266 (known as the “Transgender Bathroom Bill”). The referendum would require people to use “restrooms, showers, locker rooms, and changing rooms in government buildings in accordance with their biological sex, rather than their gender identity,” dealing a setback to transgender activists.
Ben Hudson, the executive director of the Gender Health Center in Sacramento told local Fox affiliate KTXL that the proposal “goes against California law. It’s frankly discriminatory and illegal to try to block anyone from using a restroom and then having to pay damages to somebody over that.” He suggested it would also put transgender people in danger.
Another transgender man told KTXL that despite increasing acceptance of the “trans” community as a whole, here is also “a lot more of the haters who are coming on strongly.”
The referendum proposal needs 365,880 signatures to qualify to appear on the 2016 ballot.
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