California Governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill this week that will designate California as a ‘sanctuary state’ for minors who want to receive gender reassignment surgery without parental knowledge or consent.
When signing the bill, Newsom said that state laws attempting to ban medical care for transgender people younger than 18 “demonize” the community and are an “act of hate”.
The law aspires to make California a safe haven for families seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender children. The law, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, aims to block states with anti-LGBTQ policies from initiating civil or criminal actions against parents helping their transgender kids access health care in California.
SB 107 bars doctors from releasing medical information to authorities in other states investigating families of transgender children for taking them to providers for gender-affirming treatment. It also prevents California law enforcement agencies from arresting people for violating other state laws regarding gender-affirming care.
The new law gives California courts the ability to assert custody hearing jurisdiction when a transgender child is in the state to receive health care.
The bill was opposed by a coalition of groups, including the conservative, Fresno-based California Family Council, which argued that the law will allow children to be enticed to California from other states against their parents’ wishes.
