Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s newfound ‘alignment’ with Charlie Kirk and other conservatives on trans issues, the California legislature has responded to the nationwide assault on queer people with ten bills bolstering queer and trans rights passed this legislative session.

The bills include measures that direct housing agencies to combat LGBTQ+ discrimination, ban anti-trans health insurance discrimination, and require insurance to cover a year’s supply of hormones for anyone who needs them. The measures also offer important reforms to improve the process of legal name changes, patient confidentiality, HIV drug access, and more.

California has a long and storied history of queer legislative advocacy, often pushed by grassroots activism. The state has one of the largest LGBTQ+ caucuses of any legislature—including some former AIDS activists. The success of these bills demonstrates the policy muscle of an organized and engaged community, even in the face of extreme bigotry and hate.

Trans News Network reached out to Newsom and three of the California legislators who filed these bills. While the governor’s office declined to comment on pending legislation, all three legislators did, including a lengthy phone interview from state Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco.

TNN also talked to Jorge Reyes Salinas of Equality California, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization with a strong presence supporting bills like these at the capitol in Sacramento.

The bills are listed below.

Unlike Democrats in Congress or other states like North Carolina, the entire caucus stayed united on every vote to support trans and queer people, except for some absent legislators, according to a review of the official tallies. Grassroots community groups across the state such as Trans Latin@ Coalition mobilized crucial support for pro-trans bills (and opposing Republican anti-trans bills) throughout the year.

“I know that it is so painful for any trans person that is sitting there and reading social media and watching the news and there are people debating pros and cons about your existence—it's incredibly toxic and painful,” Wiener told TNN. “Even with all that, on these bills, all or just about all of my Democratic colleagues voted for it, even including the ones that are in very purple districts. And so that gives me hope.”

Republicans opposed most of the bills as a bloc, except for AB 554 (PrEP access), AB 678 (inclusive shelter services), and SB 590 (family leave protections), which passed with near or fully unanimous support across both chambers. Notably, every Republican voted against AB 727, a bill that simply provides students information about suicide hotlines.

In addition, the California Budget Act of 2025 was signed into law this June after legislators restored millions of dollars of state funding for trans healthcare that was previously cut by Gov. Newsom, as reported on by Trans News Network. However, there have been no efforts to compensate for federal funds that were slashed this year.

Legislators also overwhelmingly passed (14 abstained, including Lee) a pro-Israel education bill coauthored by Zbur, Wiener, and other Democrats—even as some lawmakers who voted yes echoed educator warnings that the law claiming to combat antisemitism would instead be weaponized to censor educators who teach about the history of genocide against Palestinians. The bill also left out measures to combat any other form of discrimination in education against other religions, race, ability, sexual orientation, or gender.

Liberal housing advocates moved forward deregulatory measures that they claim could lower housing costs by helping corporate developers build more housing. But these measures could take years to lower housing costs, if ever, and fail to address the immediate material needs specific to the trans community.

California’s budget shortfall this year resulted in little money left to address those needs, as politicians declined to raise taxes on the wealthy or meaningfully cut funding for state police forces that Newsom commands to brutalize ICE protestors and sweep homeless encampments.

In future sessions, legislators could draw ideas from Trans Latin@ Coalition’s proposal for LA to create a fund to support trans housing or NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposals to directly fund trans healthcare for youth and freeze rent for everyone, if he becomes mayor of New York City.

While these bills won’t stop every threat, they do offer a genuine ray of hope and breath of fresh air—if they become law. As someone who lives in California, I spent hundreds of dollars paying a lawyer to seal court records of my name change this year, after waiting for nearly four months for the court date—a barrier far higher for trans people without resources.

But if I had filed my name change with AB 1084 and SB 59 enacted as law, I would have received the name change within 6 weeks and my court records would have been sealed automatically, with no lawyer required. This would have also meant I could have updated my passport before Trump took office and made such updates nearly impossible.

TNN talked to Los Angeles resident Juniper, a Black trans woman studying for a master’s degree at UCLA, about what these bills could mean for the community.

“Dope as fuck,” she said after reviewing the bills. “The insurance stockpile one would be insane. I've had a lot of anxiety recently about losing access to my parents' insurance when I turned 26 and then maybe having to go off hormones, just because the nature of my field does not provide a lot of positions where you get great insurance.”

“All of the confidentiality stuff, also dope as fuck,” Juniper continued. “I feel like me and you, along with probably all trans people in America right now, are very scared about our like records being released. So that would be really neat.”

“The [inclusivity protections for] housing programs are also massive,” she added. “I know a lot of homeless trans women, and a lot of them are not really jazzed about going to any shelters, because they're all famously, really, really bad at dealing with gender diverse individuals.”

Juniper also said the bills are “100% anxiety reducing. Recently, I've had like, I'm gonna estimate probably a 200% to 300% increase in my anxiety with just like everything that conservatives are saying about trans people. And at least knowing that, ‘hey, the state that I live in is doing the bare minimum,’ that would be cool!”

As refreshing as these bills may be, they don’t address the devastation caused by multiple California hospitals and healthcare systems illegally denying trans healthcare in their rush to comply with Trump’s demands.

Trans News Network reported in June that Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles ended their entire gender care program for over 3000 patients, including many adults. Not long after, both Stanford Medicine and Kaiser — one of the biggest hospital networks in the region — announced they would end gender affirming surgeries for trans youth for similar reasons.

Many patients who lost care from CHLA this year switched to other local hospitals, such as UCLA Health. But the number of providers who provide trans care for minors, especially ones that accept Medicaid, is rapidly dwindling in Los Angeles, as UCLA shamefully negotiates a deal with Trump that could put trans lives in danger in order to restore lost funding.

“We are going to have to follow whatever rules the federal government proposes,” UCLA Chancellor Frenk recently said, in regards to Trump’s demand to end trans healthcare for minors. A deal with Trump ending that care may come even though the university recently won back illegally withheld funds in federal court rulings. (Note: the author of this article uses UCLA Health for her healthcare needs).

“My understanding is [ending gender health programs] is pretty clearly a violation of state law. I don't think we need to pass any new laws,” Wiener, the senator from San Francisco, said.

But these laws have yet to be enforced by the state, despite numerous patient complaints and near-weekly protests at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles lasting much of this year.

Salinas from Equality California said that while the hospitals should not have ended care for youth and acknowledged their actions violate California law, California could best address the issue by directly confronting the Trump administration with lawsuits.

Wiener, however, has taken a much more confrontational tone against the hospitals.

“I've met with senior management of CHLA and Kaiser about this issue about the federal government trying to bully hospitals into ending gender affirming care. I made it very clear that I think it's completely unacceptable to do that.”

“And my view is that these institutions need to fight and file lawsuits if Trump is doing something illegal, which it seems quite illegal. But a lot of times they seem to not want to take the risk,” Wiener continued. “I think that's really dangerous, because when institutions just start folding, it becomes a domino effect and you see more and more institutions [comply], whether it's hospitals or law firms or whatever the case may be.”

Wiener agreed with the idea of California using its power to enforce a carrot-and-stick approach against hospitals. “I think the state should be supporting these hospitals in their litigation. And I think it's important for hospitals to follow the law.”

But why have state authorities failed to enforce the law so far?

“The California Department of Justice is very aware of the situation, and I just don't wanna speculate about what they're investigating or preparing,” Wiener replied. “But do I think the law should be enforced? Yes, it should be.”

While the California legislature has remained united in passing measures supporting LGBTQ+ people this year, the same cannot be said for the governor. Although Newsom built much of his career off the backs of supporting LGBTQ+ rights (especially for well-off cis gays) and has signed some bills supporting trans people during his two terms as governor, his rhetoric has taken a sharp turn to the right after Trump took office for his second term this year.

Newsom infamously sided with Charlie Kirk on many trans issues on the first episode of his new podcast, including on trans women in sports, prisons, and more. Since then he has routinely brought up trans rights in a negative light on his podcast when talking with right-wing guests and falsely claimed that support for trans rights negatively impacted Democrats in the 2024 election.

After Kirk’s death, queer activists excoriated Newsom’s statement for whitewashing Kirk’s legacy and stating that all people should “continue his work,” in reference to the far-right YouTuber’s “passion and commitment to debate.”

And just this week, Newsom said in an interview with former President Bill Clinton that Democrats should learn from Kirk when attempting to court the vote of young men. Kirk took many extreme stances against trans people (as well as Black people and women), such as calling for Nuremberg-style trials for doctors who provide lifesaving healthcare to trans people or asking Trump to ban trans healthcare for everyone, across the country.

Newsom showed off his learnings from Kirk as a guest for the right-wing Shawn Ryan Show, where he suggested that trans people should not be able to medically transition until they are 26 years old—a higher age threshold than any trans healthcare ban enacted anywhere in the country so far.

Wiener, a long-time political ally to Newsom, has spoken out against his comments about trans athletes, but was unaware of the comments against trans healthcare until TNN mentioned them.

“Trans people have become a political football, and it's important for Democrats and progressives not to participate in that,” Wiener replied. “This is about people's lives and health care decisions that people make in consultation with their medical providers, in consultation with their families.”

While Newsom may not be planning to veto every pro-trans bill, the worry is that he might make decisions based on his own perceived political needs or needs of his wealthy donors, rather than the needs of Californians. After all, he’s done so before. Last year, Newsom vetoed almost 16% of the 1206 bills that reached his desk, often aligning with the interests of corporations.

“We're really hoping that the governor signs our sponsor legislation this year,” Salinas said. “Whether it's a good political move or not, we don't really care. What we're asking for is for the governor to continue to do the right thing and support the communities in California that are the ones that are the most vulnerable because of the vile attacks from the Trump administration and the federal government trying to strip away their identities, their rights, and their health care.”

Wiener similarly stated, “when it comes to people's basic rights and humanity and dignity, it can't just be about what the polls say.”

Citing his Jewish heritage, Wiener drew parallels between conspiracy theories against Jews that led to pogroms and genocide in Europe, and false claims pushed by many conservatives that trans people are terrorists and mass shooters.

In regards to the Lemkin Institute’s warnings of potential genocide against trans people, Wiener responded, “yeah, I think that when you take the rhetoric to its logical end, including the President's executive order proclaiming trans people don't exist, I think that you can see it going in that direction. And that is deeply, deeply concerning to me.”

Wiener’s comments to TNN place him in a small group of politicians who have warned that Republican policies intend to commit genocide against trans people, such as state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Nebraska and state Rep. Alicia Kowlowski of Minnesota. No members of Congress have acknowledged the term.

However, it remains to be seen if state Democrats like Wiener will match the urgency the moment demands by exercising their supermajorities in the legislature to override vetoes on bills that could protect trans people from deadly threats. Legislators haven't defied a governor that way since 1979, which means that trans activists must pile the pressure on before the Oct. 12 deadline to ensure these bills become law.

“It's important for people to continue putting pressure and really not diminish the value of a phone call to their representative makes,” Salinas said.

Through centuries of brutal fascist violence enacted by western imperialist nations against Black and Indigenous peoples across the globe, marginalized groups have learned that oppression is the norm, and our innate freedoms are often stolen from us. But we have also learned that it can be won back through rugged perseverance and collective solidarity, channeling community grief into determined resistance.

You can channel your own community’s rage into action today by rallying your friends and chosen family behind protests or phone zaps against politicians, hospitals, or other institutions. Flex your collective power, and build the connections needed to tend to the material, safety, and emotional needs of your community.

California residents can motivate allies to contact Newsom’s office directly and demand he sign these bills. Equality California provided an action letter, for those not sure what to say.

But the most effective advocacy comes from the heart. Consider asking your allies to write up a personal message that you email or use as a script for a call that uses strong and passionate language to explain about how these bills could impact you personally (feel free to link this article!), and list actions you may take to protest his future political aspirations if he does veto the bills. Never allow politicians to feel complacent.

Residents can also contact their CA Assembly members and State Senators to ask them to pressure Newsom themselves and work internally to build party consensus for overrides if necessary. Trans advocates living anywhere in the US can contact their representatives to hold them accountable, as Democrats negotiate deals to end the ongoing shutdown with Republicans who threaten to jam anti-trans provisions into spending bills, including a ban on federal funding for trans healthcare.

But as threats escalate, so must our tactics to confront politicians with the true urgency of the moment, beyond phone calls and emails. One example is organizing protests at town halls or public events held by politicians and other figures, exemplified by recent protests for trans rights, Palestine, and healthcare.

The possibilities are endless, and tactics innumerable. We can draw from the storied histories of queer activism, Palestinian resistance, anti-colonial fights for independence, and Black civil rights movements.

In order to survive difficult times like these, we must remember that focusing on individual survival and incremental reforms to the systems that oppress us cannot protect our communities, our healthcare, and our basic rights. The best way to save yourself is to work with your community and fight to save us all, and bring your friends to the future we all deserve.

— Edited by Corinne Green and David Forbes