Assembly Bill 537
Under the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (AB 537) (Full Text; PDF; Outside Source), all California public schools have a duty to protect students from discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
In the Spring of 2000, former State Superintendent Delaine Eastin established an advisory task force to identify ways to implement the California Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (PDF; 1.62MB; 27pp.). The California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (Assembly Bill 537) was enacted to amend California Education Code specifically prohibiting discrimination against and harassment of students and staff in schools on the basis of sex, ethnic group identification, race, national origin, religion, color, or mental or physical disability. This law added the provision that all students and staff in public schools have the same right to a safe learning environment, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Senate Bill 1234
The Legislature has recently defined "gender" for purposes of identifying hate crimes and eliminating unlawful discrimination in public schools in SB 1234, amending Penal Code Section 422.58 as follows:
"Gender" means sex, and includes a person's gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth.
Senate Bill (SB) 1234 (Outside Source): Full text of Senate Bill 1234 (Chapter 70, Stats of 2004).
Other Resources
Education Code that specifically addresses gender discrimination is listed below:
Education Code sections 200-201 (Outside Source)
Education Code sections 210-214 (Outside Source)
Education Code sections 220-221.1 (Outside Source)
Education Code sections 221.5-231.5 (Outside Source)
Visit the following Web site for testimony before the Senate Select
Committee on School Safety on "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity
Discrimination, and School Safety": School Safety Committee - Hearings
[http://www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/COMMITTEE/SELECT/SCHOOL_SAFETY/_home/hearings.htp] (Outside Source).
The CDE legal division has recently provided a legal advisory
to local education agencies, explaining the laws related to discrimination
on the basis of gender.
Legal Advisory | PDF (Posted 15-Nov-2005; 45KB; 4pp.)
