California schoolboard votes to allow transgender books in classrooms

Controversy stemmed from a book starring a transgender character

Transgender activists and supporters protest the Trump administrations' policies on transgender students near the White House on February 22, 2017. (Reuters)

Teachers in a California school have been told they can can continue reading books about transgender people to their students.

A school district near Sacramento was engulfed in national controversy after a transgender kindergarten student brought the book I Am Jazz into school and her teacher read it aloud.

Published in 2014, the book by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, tells the story of Ms Jennings, a transgender woman who was assigned a male gender at birth but transitioned to being a woman. She has illuminated her odyssey in a series of YouTube videos that attracted millions of views and a TLC show, making her a public advocate for transgender youth. Her story became prominent enough that the California Department of Education included I Am Jazz on its list of recommended literature.

Despite that state backing the decision divided parents, some of whom angrily contacted the district, and attracted attention from conservative advocacy groups. A spokesman for the school told NBC affiliate KCRA that multiple families had taken their children out of the school.

Hundreds of people reportedly attended a Monday school board meeting to settle the issue, with some sporting “Protect our Parental Rights” stickers and others wearing pro-LGBT stickers, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The school board ultimately voted to preserve the policies that allowed I Am Jazz to be read in the first place. A post headlined “Fact Sheet on Gender Identity” now greets visitors to the Rocklin Academy’s homepage, noting that the school has a legal obligation to protect all students from harassment, repudiating a rumour that a child had held a “transition ceremony” at school.

“Gender identity is not part of the Rocklin Academy’s curriculum,” the note reads. “However, topics outside of the school’s curriculum do arise in the classroom. When such topics arise, our focus is threefold: treating students with respect; helping others to understand and act with respect; and following our obligations under the law.”

“For 16 years, our practice has been to allow children to bring in books to classrooms to be read that are of interest to them or help classmates understand their heritage or culture” the note adds.

While decisions about curriculum and instruction are typically decided on the local level, California has passed a steady array of state laws solidifying its role as a champion of gay and transgender rights - many of which affect schoolchildren.

A 2011 law requires schools to teach gay history, which encompasses prominent California figures like slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official.

The state has also passed laws requiring single-stall public bathrooms to be unisex and allowing students to use the locker rooms and bathrooms corresponding to their gender identities. An unsuccessful effort to overturn the latter was backed by the Pacific Justice Institute, one of the groups that helped amplify the concerns of Rocklin parents opposed to “I am Jazz” being read.

Donald Trump has moved in the opposite direction, rescinding an Obama-era directive allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identities and declining to have his Department of Justice challenge an injunction that blocked students from doing so.