Repeal bid looks to be falling short

Opponents of a new state law that expands transgender students’ rights appear to have fallen just short of qualifying a repeal initiative for the November ballot, the secretary of state’s office said Wednesday.

A random sampling indicated that the law’s opponents failed to gather the 504,760 valid signatures of registered voters that they needed to put their measure on the ballot, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said. Her office will now begin a full signature-by-signature count that could take 30 working days, or until Feb. 24.

Opponents of the law, AB1266, turned in 619,244 signatures in November. But the

random count showed that just 482,582, or about 78 percent, were likely to be valid, Bowen’s office said.

The signature-gathering drive was mounted by a coalition of church and conservative groups called Privacy for All Students. It was led by Frank Schubert, a Republican political strategist who also headed the 2008 campaign for Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage in California. That measure passed, but federal courts ruled it unconstitutional.

The law opposed by Privacy for All Students was sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year.

It mandates that schools let transgender students use facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender with which they identify. It also requires that such students be given access to activities such as sports teams that are in line with their gender orientation.

The law took effect Jan. 1, according to Bowen’s office, but would be put on hold if the repeal initiative qualifies.

Although Bowen’s announcement Wednesday signals that may not happen, the initiative’s proponents said they aren’t giving up.

“I’m looking forward to seeing every signature counted, because this is such an important issue,’’ said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), aRepublican gubernatorial candidate who pulled his teenage son out of public school in protest of the new law.

“It’s basically upsetting the social order,” Donnelly said, “and in my travels across the state, this was the single hottest topic with every single demographic. That included people who had never voted, new parents, grandparents and business people.”

Proponents of the new law argue that it will protect transgender students from bullying and better protect their rights. They say several school districts, including those in San Francisco and Los Angeles, have had similar policies for years and have reported no problems.

Dean Weloiver, 17, a transgender boy from Bakersfield who has received assistance from the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, said the law “just clarifies guidelines for schools.”

“They didn’t know their responsibilities,” he said. “Now that it’s passed, kids like me can be protected.”

Advocates of repeal, however, dispute Bowen’s finding that the law took effect New Year’s Day.

Kevin Snider, an attorney for the Pacific Justice Institute — which supports the referendum — said Wednesday that a law is suspended if opponents turn in enough signatures within 90 days after the governor signs it. He noted that Bowen’s office has not ruled on whether enough of the signatures were valid in this case.

Snider said opponents of the law have not decided whether to go to court over the issue.