The Golden State’s Democratic majority has promised to be a fortress for liberal values during the second Donald Trump administration.
Now, those defensive lines are being built. State Sen. Scott Wiener announced legislation Thursday aimed at bolstering the privacy of transgender Californians.
The Transgender Privacy Act, or SB 59, would automatically seal all court records related to a person’s transition. The documents would include those related to the person’s previous name, gender, or sex change.
“The incoming Trump administration and Republican congressional leadership have made clear that targeting and erasing trans people is among their highest policy priorities, and California must have our trans community members’ backs,” Wiener said in a statement. “Making this personal identifying information public after someone transitions, including a person’s dead name, as well as the basic fact that they’re trans or nonbinary, pointlessly exposes trans and nonbinary Californians to harassment and potential violence.”
The law builds on the 2023 Transgender Youth Privacy Act, drafted by Assemblymember Chris Ward of San Diego, which shields petitions for children’s name or gender changes.
It follows a precedent set last year by the 5th District Court of Appeals in Fresno that relaxed the rules around such court records being held by the public. The petitioner in that case was a transgender woman who said she had been outed and harassed by anonymous social media users.
Wiener’s bill would apply to Californians over 18 and would retroactively seal records currently held by the court.
According to the California Department of Public Health, the state has approximately 220,000 transgender and nonbinary residents.
Other states have created similar privacy laws. Oregon passed its privacy legislation in 2017, while New York’s 2021 law focused on transgender residents who are at risk of violence or intimidation. Washington passed a law in 2023 that automatically seals documents after a judge approves a gender and name change.
Democrats have long decried Trump’s stance toward the transgender community.
During his campaign, the president-elect spoke out against transgender athletes participating in girls and women’s sports. At an event last month in Phoenix, Trump vowed to “stop the transgender lunacy” during his presidency and pledged to make it the official policy of the federal government that there are only two genders.
“Having accurate identity documents is critical to allowing transgender people to live safely and openly as their authentic selves,” Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang said in a statement about Wiener’s bill. “As the incoming Trump administration prepares to wage unprecedented attacks on the transgender community, California must do everything it can to protect the safety and well-being of transgender people.”