Signature drive lead by extreme right-wing fails. SB 777, the newly enacted Student Civil Rights Act, remains in effect.

Gay rights groups are celebrating the failure of a signature drive by ultra-conservatives to overturn civil rights protections for California students.

“Opponents of SB 777 have been spreading misinformation and outright lies for months, and whether they actually collected 350,000 signatures, we will never know,” said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors. “What is clear is that they failed. Despite their vicious attack, Californians stood with us and said ‘no’ to turning back the clock on civil rights and protecting all youth from discrimination in our schools.”

According to the 2001 California Healthy Kids Survey, nearly 30 percent of California youth in grades seven to 11 report experiencing harassment or bullying based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.

California’s Legislature passed SB 777 in September and Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law on October 12, 2007.

Source: Lambda Legal