California has become the first state in the nation to allow transgendered students to choose which school bathrooms and locker rooms to use and which sport teams to join based on their gender identity.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 1266 into law Monday. The law will go in to effect January 1.
The law is the nation's first that specifically requires equal access to public school facilities and activities based on gender identity, though some states have general policies to the same effect, said Shannon Price Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights -- one of several groups backing the legislation.
Devon Marchant, a transgender nursing student at Folsom Lake Community College, applauded the new law.
Some parents opposed it.
"Just because they're confused doesn't mean they have to confuse everybody else," Maria Garcia told CNN affiliate KXTV.
But some said the law reflects the times.
Though California had already prohibited discrimination in education, transgender students were often "unfairly excluded from physical education, athletic teams, and other school activities and facilities because of who they are," according to a statement by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and other groups supporting the measure.
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