Teen Fighting for Transgender Bill in California

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130703/A_NEWS/307030319

Nearly one year ago, Kimberly Marie Lee decided the time had finally arrived.

Truth needed to be told. Reality needed to be faced. Kimberly, born an adorable baby girl, would be known going forward as Ashton, a strapping teenage boy.

“I sat her down,” 16-year-old Ashton recalled Tuesday afternoon, “and said, ’Hey mom, guess what?’ “

At the time, Ashton was just starting his sophomore year at Manteca High School. His journey from secrecy to openness was only beginning, but it was about to accelerate at a blinding rate.

During the early stages of 10th grade, Ashton says he wanted to take a fitness class largely populated by boys. But Ashton says his academic counselor refused to make the change, instead keeping him in an aerobics class in which all the other students were girls.

At the time, Ashton chose not to press the issue. He never took the matter to Manteca High’s principal, Frank Gonzales. It was easier that way. But in recent weeks, Ashton has become a star proponent of AB1266. If passed, the bill would require California public schools to respect transgender students’ self-identity in all programs, activities and facilities.

Ashton and his 46-year-old mother, Cathy Lee, testified before the California Senate Education Committee in support of the bill on June 12. The bill passed the committee, 5-2, and may come to a vote in the full Senate as soon as today.

If enacted, the new law would mirror policy that has been in place in Los Angeles Unified since 2005. According to a 2011 study by the University of California, Los Angeles, about one in every 300 adults is transgender. Ashton said he is one of five openly transgender students at Manteca High, which has an enrollment of more than 1,500.

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