HESPERIA — Hesperia Unified School District Administrators sent a letter to the ACLU Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) and the law firm Nixon Peabody stating they are implementing concrete changes to improve the climate for LGBTQ students in the district.

SACRAMENTO – The California State Senate Wednesday passed the School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), sending the bill that ensures transgender students have the opportunity to succeed in school to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

SACRAMENTO—Today, the California Senate Education Committee passed AB 1266 (Ammiano), the School Success and Opportunity Act, a bill that provides crucial support for transgender students, by a vote of 5-2.

(Sacramento) The School Success and Opportunity Act (AB 1266), authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, has passed the Assembly Education Committee by a vote of 5-2. The School Success and Opportunity Act addresses the exclusion of transgender students from classes and activities, and clarifies existing anti-discrimination law to provide clear protections to transgender students.

The ACLU Foundation of Southern California (ACLU/SC), and the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP sent a letter to administrators at Sultana High School and the Hesperia Unified School District in San Bernardino County demanding that school officials stop censoring the speech and activities of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) school club, stop discriminating against lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender and queer/questioning (LBGTQ) students in the school, and allow students to wear gender non-conforming clothing to the upcoming prom.  

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano has introduced the School Success and Opportunity Act, Assembly Bill 1266, co-authored by Senator Mark Leno and Senator Ricardo Lara. The bill will ensure that California public schools understand their responsibility for the success and well-being of all students, including transgender students, and will allow transgender students to fully participate in all school activities, programs, and facilities. 

The ACLU of Southern California and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center are urging Los Angeles city leaders to sever sister city ties with St. Petersburg, Russia, following the passage there of increasingly repressive laws directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. 

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will grant review in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California’s Proposition 8, and in Windsor v. United States, the ACLU’s challenge to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

In response to requests to support marriage equality efforts currently underway in the state of Washington, The Center Long Beach and ACLU of Southern California have partnered with Washington United for Marriage (WUM) and Marriage Equality USA (MEUSA) to host weekly phone banks to reach undecided voters and urge them to support marriage equality in the state.