MAY WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?: LGBT ¨Anti-bullying¨ and ¨Gender Nondiscrimination¨ bills become LAW in California!

Victim of Bullying, Seth Walsh, R.I.P.

¨California Governor Jerry Brown on Monday signed into law an anti-bullying measure named after gay student Seth Walsh.

Walsh is the 13-year-old boy who hanged himself after he was endlessly harassed by classmates who perceived him to be gay. He died 9 days after his mother Wendy Walsh found him hanging from a plum tree in their backyard. A federal investigation concluded that Tehachapi Unified School District failed to properly respond to the teen's ongoing harassment.

The legislation was introduced by openly gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat from San Francisco, and cleared the Assembly on June 1 on a 52-26 vote.
Senators approved the legislation with a 24 to 14 vote on September 7.

The new law mandates that schools post anti-bullying policies throughout campuses, provide complaint forms on their websites and give schools a timeline to investigate and resolve complaints...¨ HERE

Jerry Brown, the younger, Governor of  (D)

¨California Governor Jerry Brown on Monday announced that he had signed into law a transgender protections bill.

The Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 887) takes existing protections based on gender identity and expression and enumerates them as protected categories in non-discrimination laws.

“Californians support fair and equal treatment for everyone, but many employers, landlords and transgender people themselves are unaware that the law protects transgender people,” Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego, said in sponsoring the bill. “As a result, transgender people experience housing and employment discrimination and often are not even aware they have any recourse. AB 887 will strengthen our state's anti-discrimination laws and move us closer to equality for every Californian.”

The law also makes it clear that gender identity and expression are included in the definition of gender and sex in all California codes.

Brown also signed into law The Vital Statistics Modernization Act (AB 433), sponsored by Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach.

Lowenthal's legislation makes it easier for a transgender person to get a legal gender change by streamlining current law...¨ HERE

·  Thanks to On Top Magazine, sidebar
·  Thanks to Governor Jerry Brown, California
·  Thanks to Bonnie Lowenthal, Long Beach Assemblywoman
·  Thanks to Tom Ammiano, San Francisco Assemblyman