Opponents of California’s new law protecting transgender students (AB 1266) are intent on demonizing transgender students, and blogger Cristan Williams has debunked another fabricated claim of supposed restroom harassment.
One of the partners in the so-called “Privacy for All Students” referendum campaign against AB 1266 is Salt and Light Ministry, which is affiliated with Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship in Temecula, California. As Williams points out, the group has promoted the Pacific Justice Institute’s claims about a Colorado transgender student harassing girls in the school bathroom that have been proven false. Apparently, Salt and Light Ministry has also been spinning its own stories. The group’s leader, Dran Reese, told KGTV ABC10 News in San Diego last week that a transgender student at a Los Angeles high school was harassing other girls in the bathroom:
Reese pointed out a recent case in which a Los Angeles-area high school student complained to her school that a transgender boy harassed her and peeked at girls over the stalls.
The girl’s family hired an attorney, but has yet to file a lawsuit.
Williams was dubious of this claim and called the Los Angeles Unified School District to verify it — a step it seems KGTV ABC10 reporter Michael Chen did not take. Here’s how the district’s Office of Communications responded to Williams’ inquiry:
LAUSD: [The school] did get the complaint and it turned out that it was fabricated by one of the parents who opposes transgender students in schools. So it was an unfortunate situation, to have to put the students through, but it was fabricated.
The incident was first reported back in June by conservative outlet The College Fix. Even then, the school asserted that the anonymous girl who complained was not victimized in any way. The attorney who represented that girl is Robert Tyler, who heads up a conservative “religious liberty” group called Advocates for Faith & Freedom. Unsurprisingly, that group is also a partner in the petition campaign to repeal AB 1266.
These transgender kids are simply trying to safely go to the bathroom just like any other student. They are not causing problems, but they are now being victimized by conservatives who are eager to make an example of them. These fear-mongering attempts seem to only further justify the need for the very protections ensuring that they are not prohibited from using basic facilities in their schools.
ABC10’s report inaptly described AB 1266 as “allowing some school children to use any bathroom they choose.” Reese claimed that the law would make children vulnerable to abuse in bathrooms such as pedophilia and rape. Watch the puff piece about her effort:
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