What would have sounded completely unbelievable just 20 years ago is now law, thanks to California’s Gov. Jerry Brown: “Transgender students”— meaning children from K-12 who believe they are trapped in the wrong body—can “pick the restrooms they want to use, and the sports teams they want to play on, based on their gender identity.”
So, 6-year-old Sally, who is convinced she is actually Sam (without any scientific diagnosis that can prove this and, in fact, without any professional confirmation required by the school), can not only dress like a boy at school, she can also share the boys’ room with the other 6-year-old gents.
And 18-year-old Sam, who is convinced he is actually Sally, can not only come to school dressed as a girl and use the girls’ bathroom, he can play on the girls’ basketball team and use their locker room too.
I am not making this up.
Legislators passed this bill, and the governor signed it, yet even for California, this is hard to believe.
And remember: This is based entirely on the child’s self-perception.
That’s why, in recent years, male high school students have been voted prom queens and female high school students have been voted prom kings. As explained by a 16-year-old female student in 2010, “It’s not like the stereotype where the [prom] king has to be a jock and he’s there with the cheerleaders anymore. We live in a generation now where dudes are chicks and chicks are dudes.” (For documentation of this and the following quotes, see A Queer Thing Happened to America.)
And make no mistake about it. Desconstructing gender has long been a gay activist goal. As expressed by Barb Burdge, a lesbian activist and social work professor, “Challenging oppressive gender structures and making gender rights a priority are critical steps toward universal freedom from punishment for gender nonconformity.”