A California parent group failed to gather enough signatures for a ballot measure that would have implemented several policies concerning transgender students.
The measure would have prevented trans students from competing in girls' sports, would have required parental notification for students requesting gender changes, and would have banned the use of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and genital change surgeries for minors.
Protect Kids California collected more than 400,000 signatures, but fell approximately 150,000 short of the 546,651 minimum required to make it on the state ballot.
Many of those signatures came from Southern California counties including Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside, campaign organizer Jonathan Zachreson said.
The measure polled well in the blue state before Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a title ("Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth Initiative") and summary for it, The Center Square reported.
Supporters wanted to change the name to the "Protect Kids of California Act," and they wanted the summary updated. A Superior Court judge denied their request.
"While we are disappointed we didn't meet the threshold to qualify for the ballot, we are encouraged by the amount of support from every sector of the state," Protect Kids California stated in a news release the group posted on X. "We gathered more signatures for a statewide initiative than any all-volunteer effort in the history of California.
"We had several headwinds from the beginning. California Attorney General Rob Bonta issues a false and misleading Title & Summary for our initiative. That made our fundraising efforts more difficult. While we sued the Attorney General, a Superior Court Judge denied our motion in April.
"We plan to appeal the Superior Court Judge's decision, at which time we will decide how to proceed in the future. If we had a little more time or a little more money, we would have easily qualified for the ballot."
Lawmakers in the California Legislature last week announced a bill that would ban school districts from adopting policies that require parents to be notified of a child's sexual orientation or gender identity, with some exceptions including if the student's safety is at risk.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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