The dome of the Capitol building in Sacramento – Photo: Alex Wild, via Wikimedia.
California lawmakers have passed a historic bill ensuring that transgender youth in foster care will be able to access medical care, including hormones and mental health counseling, in order to assist them with their transition.
The bill, introduced by openly gay Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), mandates that the California Department of Social Services develop guidance by 2020 that outlines best practices for ensuring that transgender youth are aware of their options and can access Medi-Cal services if they choose to pursue hormone or other medically necessary treatments.
Earlier this week, the bill was approved by the Senate, which made a series of technical amendments earlier this week. Those changes were then approved by the Assembly on a 53-22 vote. The bill now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for his signature into law.
“The passage of AB 2119 today is a momentous sign of hope for transgender foster youth living in the system growing up feeling neglected, forgotten, or out of place. With this bill, I hope those foster youth will be assured that we see you, we care about you, and there is a place for you in California,” Gloria said in a statement. “AB 2119 will empower transgender foster youth to live authentically and simply be themselves. Governor Brown now has the power to make that a reality.”
The bill’s passage comes three years after Brown signed a bill requiring child welfare workers and caregivers to consider the gender identity of transgender youth when determining an appropriate placement.
Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur has said the bill will save lives.
“[The bill] gives LGBTQ foster youth room to focus on other important aspects of their lives, including succeeding in school, building healthy relationships, and fully engaging in positive youth development programs,” Zbur said in a statement.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights also hailed passage of the bill.
“Every young person in foster care deserves, and is entitled to, medically necessary health and behavioral health care,” Shannan Wilber, NCLR’s youth policy director, said in a statement. “The harms caused by the denial or delay of medically necessary care are particularly acute for transgender and gender non-conforming children and youth, who often encounter barriers to receiving the care they need to ensure their health, safety, and well-being.”
Poised to juggle her past and present, her fears and joys, in the one-woman autobiographical show Circus of the Self, Lucy Eden will also be juggling her two favorite props.
"I'm using balls and knives," Eden says, grinning. "And there's also some unicycling, some balance elements. I like to balance things on my face. It's one of my favorite elements of juggling."
So is comedy, which the performer blends with poetry and first-person narrative to relate her own origin story -- someone who is trans and grew up in rural south Georgia, before relocating to the Bay Area.
A Henrico County Circuit Court judge has partially overturned Virginia's ban on conversion therapy by signing a June consent decree with Attorney General Jason Miyares and the Virginia Department of Health Professions.
The decree stems from a lawsuit by Front Royal counselors John and Janet Raymond and allows licensed professionals to conduct "talk therapy" aimed at convincing minors to "change" or suppress feelings related to their sexual orientation or gender identity, provided they use only verbal methods and avoid physical conversion practices.
New York PBS affiliate WNET has removed three educational episodes addressing transgender identity and drag expression from its archives, following threats from congressional conservatives and the Trump administration to defund public broadcasting.
One targeted program was a 2021 episode of the educational series Let’s Learn, titled “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” The episode featured drag queen and children’s author Lil Miss Hot Mess reading from her book of the same name—a playful take on the classic nursery rhyme “The Wheels on the Bus.”
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.