A Loss From The Gipper's Party

Out in California the party of the Gipper lost one… thankfully!

They want to a ballot question on the ballot banning our healthcare.

Proposal to limit transgender youth rights fails to qualify for California’s November ballot
LA Times
By Mackenzie Mays
May 28, 2024

A measure that would have required schools to notify parents about their child’s gender identity and limited transgender youth medical care has failed to get enough signatures in support to qualify for the November ballot, proponents said Tuesday.

The proposal sought to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns at school or requests to use facilities or play sports that don’t match their gender on official records. It also would have banned California doctors from prescribing hormones or otherwise providing gender-affirming care to minors.

For the measure to qualify for the ballot, proponents had to submit the signatures of more than half a million registered voters by Tuesday, the deadline set by the California secretary of state.

Do you remember the anti-gay ballot initiative in California in 1978, Proposition 6 that lead to Harvey Milks Hope Speech?

The ACLU of Northern California wrote,

Every year on May 22, California celebrates Harvey Milk Day to mark the indelible impact Milk left on the world. Milk is lauded for being the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California - an achievement in itself.

Less widely known is the fact that in the last year of his life, Milk tirelessly fought a virulently homophobic statewide initiative that looked very likely to pass and would have put California in the vanguard of a growing anti-gay movement.

Anita Bryant back in the late 70s was part of the “Save the Children” campaign and they were on a roll of passing anti-gay legislation around the country banning gay and lesbian on many of their rights and limiting where they could be employed.

California stopped the momentum and the Save the Children campaign died out but many of the states constitutions that were changed are still enforced but block by the Supreme Court.

So this ballot attempt has it roots back in the 70s with the Lavender Scare. The LA Times goes on to write,

Supporters of the measure sought to bring Republican-backed debates over “parental rights” that have been playing out on school boards in conservative pockets of California to the statewide level. California Democrats in turn have fought to thwart gender notification policies considered by several school boards, measures they said are harmful to transgender students who may feel safe at school but not at home.

[…]

Last week, Democratic state lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a bill that seeks to ban such school policies and shield teachers from retaliation for supporting transgender students as lawsuits over the issue are pending across the state.

But you want to guess who they tried to get to help them get the ballot initiative on the ballot?

They are hoping for the financial support of billionaire Elon Musk, who has criticized healthcare for transgender youth.

Another reason not to buy a Tesla!