(Photo Credits: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA)
California continues to evolve on LGBT rights. Now, more than ever, the LGBTQ+ Californians are better protected because of the four legislations that Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law.
“California has some of the strongest pro LGBTQ+ laws in the nation and with the bills signed today, our march toward equality takes an additional step forward,” said Governor Newsom. “These new laws will help us better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ+ community, establish a new fund to support our transgender sisters and brothers and advance inclusive and culturally competent efforts that uphold the dignity of all Californians, regardless of who you are or who you love.”
Among the laws signed by Governor Newsom is the SB 1255 introduced by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) and the Senate Committee on Insurance. SB 1255, titled Equal Insurance HIV Act, ends the practice of insurance companies discriminating against people living with HIV.
Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) said in a statement:
I am very grateful for the support of my Senate and Assembly colleagues on this critical legislation. This is a huge step to ensure that Californians living with HIV and their families have equal access to life and disability income insurance coverage.
Governor Newsom also signed AB 2218 by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), better known as the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund. This means that transgender, gender nonconforming, or intersex (TGI) individuals now have better access to housing and health care.
How will the Fund accomplish this?
According to Governor Newsom’s page, the Fund will “help create or fund TGI-specific housing programs and partnerships with hospitals, health care clinics and other medical providers to provide TGI-focused health care.”
“This is a critical measure for our transgender community and I thank Governor Newsom for his steadfast leadership in signing AB 2218,” Assemblymember Santiago said. “California’s TGI community has long faced obstacles in receiving safe, non-discriminatory, comprehensive care, and COVID-19 has exacerbated these existing health care disparities. This bill will help create programs where TGI-identified people can receive safe, competent, and inclusive health care and other social services.”
The third bill signed by Governor Newsom is called SB 132 by Senator Scott Wiener (D) which was co-sponsored as well by the following: TransLatin@ Coalition, TGI Justice Project, Equality California, ACLU of California, Lambda Legal, Medina Orthwein LLP, and Transgender Law Center.
Senator Scott Wiener is the Chair of the California Legislative LGTBQ Caucus.
With the passage of SB 132 into law, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is now required to house inmates who identify as transgender, nonbinary, and intersex based on their gender identity. In addition, CDCR is required to “record the individual’s self-reported gender identity, gender pronouns and honorifics throughout an inmate’s term.”
“Thank you Governor Newsom for once again proving you are a champion for LGBTQ people,” Senator Wiener said in a statement.
Senator Wiener added:
SB 132 is life-saving legislation that will protect trans people in prison, particularly trans women who are subject to high levels of assault and harassment in men’s facilities. And, SB 932 ensures our community will no longer be invisible, and that we will be counted by our public health system. Today is a great day for California’s LGBTQ community and yet another example of California’s deep commitment to LGBTQ equality.”
Lastly, SB 932, which was mentioned above, was also introduced by Senator Wiener.
It will ensure “comprehensive data collection to understand how COVID-19 is impacting the LGBTQ+ community.” Further, this legislation will “provide public health officials with more information on patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, which is essential to addressing health inequities and designing public health interventions that help California’s diverse communities.”
Simply put, with the passage of SB 932, health providers are now required to “track COVID-19 and all other communicable diseases in the LGBTQ community.” According to San Francisco Chronicle, advocates called this “crucial for catching outbreaks early and combating stigma in the public-health system.”
Read the story in full here.
A long-term friend of mine who lives in greater San Francisco, CA recently told me, “as we look toward retiring, we have determined that we can stay in the modest home we bought 30 years ago outside of San Francisco OR we can sell our current home and buy a modest home in the northern part of the country where my family is and another modest one in Hawaii closer to where my partner’s family is. And we’d have monies left over to travel and do things we are looking forward to.” California government leaders have turned it into the… Read more »
I have friends who live in Cali who have decent jobs and are living there no problem. It is known to be expensive, like Montreal vs the suburbs. People will take the decision to live in Montreal to be in the middle of the action, with theatres, nice restaurants, smaller apartments, etc, or to live in suburbs, have a bigger and cheaper home, less services/entertainment.
Government doesn’t decide about prices of homes, rents or food…
It’s called the law of supply and demand, same happens in NYC and other densely populated cities or states.
According to the friend, (a Democrat by the way) the major issue is taxes. Taxes not only on their property, but the affect property and other taxes have on businesses. Taxes make everything more expensive. CA’s prolific laws have costs, most of which land on residents.
If you knew anything about what drives the cost of living (and thus also why salaries are higher in a lot of cases) in CA it has to do with taxes, regulations and things the state has a direct control over. Meanwhile they promise to only have solar power and electric cards in 15 years while they can’t even keep on peoples lights and a/c….. so tell us more from the lovely view from canada.
taxes of course there’s taxes. Nothing is free…
Same thing in Montreal, Toronto, NYC, Paris Tokyo…
there’s a cost to all these services…
I was so amazed and angry to find out that 60,000 people are homeless in LA county and there are huge communities all over that the city is aware of and is doing nothing to change it. I agree, electric cars are not more important than people and how many people will be able to afford one, just think how much the price will go up as the deadline gets closer.
Taxes, and their related costs. Look at the cost of fuel; and no, mass transit is NOT an option, rents, property taxes (Prop 13 only benefits those that never move), etc etc. The cost of living here has passed the point of no return. Either live below poverty line and have Medical and EBT, or be wealthy enough to be a political player. Free education is a commonly cited reason to stay, but again, that benefits those that can avoid high rents. I know of two schools that allow students to avoid student loan debt, and neither are in popular… Read more »
Nobody is forcing anyone to live in California though…
One of my friend was in NYC and couldn’t afford it anymore as a photographer.
He moved to Pam Springs now.
Good luck getting funding. Trump 2020 will not allocate funds to California aka Babylon, specifically for this cause.
Trump will not be elected. Hopefully he will die of Corona.
What is wrong with you…really? Hoping for someones’s death…come on. Grow up. Have compassion. Do something that really matters to your fellow human beings. Cut an old ladies lawn. Volunteer at a homeless shelter. Donate to a bake sale. Dude…really?
compassion…
lolll
for someone who has zero compassion.
NAH
he put children in cages and let 100s of 1000s die. let him die too!!! no compassion here either.
I don’t wanna wish anyone, ill-will but, I wasn’t sad to hear of his being infected; that same sediment was my immediate reaction though. I mean, why shouldn’t he get what he has allowed to happen to over two hundred thousand Americans and still counting . . . “it is what it is” such a callous reaction he’s caused such havoc . . . it’s just really hard to feel for him. I’d rather he loose the election and take his fucking ass to jail.
So much for be kind or whatever the initiative was right? Wishing death on your political “opponents” is so very leftist of you. When people say who they are and all….
Nah that’s not a political opponent, he is evil.
I dont wish well to evil people.
literally evil based only on your political slant. but do tell me how you approve of biden’s racism and past….its a two party system here and if I had said obama was “evil” or wish him death you would’ve screamed racist for days
Biden is just more decent. I dont care about his past 47 years ago.
I care about what he says now.
We all evolve except, Dump!
Total fool. The Jacobins have returned. Just remember that the Revolution eats its own. And at the end of the day, a monarchy will return, in one form or another, and the easiest way to feed all those excess revolutionaries, that are as productive as locusts, is to kill them off ruthlessly. Napoleon paid his troops in bread and ribbons, and unleashed them on his neighbors to get them fed.. or dead. The USSR starved millions, and then went to war. Cambodia starved and murdered half the population. China, killed and starved millions, then killed more in Korea. You fools… Read more »
stop paranoying Tyrell.
Cui bono, since it sure isn’t me.
I am so proud to live in California. There are so many states in this country that fight anything for equality and to me the most important is the ability to work where you are qualified, to get housing without discrimination and just the basic rights of every human being that live in our country. It costs way too much to live in this state and that is where the focus now needs to be so that people aren’t forced to move or live on the streets.
Spoken like 1) a non-Californian or 2) a PR hack working for Newsome
Tell that to Nancy pelosi.
[…] but certainly not the least, both the states of Virginia and California signed pro-LGBTQ bills into […]