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.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has canceled a $12 million grant to California’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) -- a federal initiative created under the Affordable Care Act to teach abstinence and contraception to at-risk youth.
The Trump administration balked at the program’s inclusion of transgender identity, reports Reuters, accusing educators of "indoctrinating" children with "gender ideology."
In a letter to the California Department of Public Health, HHS said it was rescinding the grant because "the grant is not being administered consistent with the authorizing statute, as the funded programs and services include gender ideology which is outside the scope of the statute."
Speaking from the podium at the World Pride Rally and March for Freedom in June, Tyler Hack joined some of the nation's most prominent LGBTQ activist voices in raising the call to protect transgender kids.
The 20-year-old trans founder and executive director of the Christopher Street Project was also among the youngest leaders to rally the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial that day, and one with a clear stake in the trans rights movement.
Under attack from right-wing policymakers who make sport of chasing people into locker rooms and bathrooms, trans youth are in peril throughout the U.S. And Trump administration executive orders restricting access to health care, public spaces, and government-issued IDs that match their name and gender identity, have forced an already marginalized community into a fight for their right to exist.
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) -- the body that oversees high school sports in the state -- over policies allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their gender identity.
In the lawsuit, the Department of Justice claims California education officials and the CIF discriminated against female student-athletes by allowing athletes assigned male at birth to compete against them -- depriving girls of equal educational and athletic opportunities in violation of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education. (Under President Joe Biden, the federal government interpreted the law to also protect students from discrimination based on gender identity, not just biological sex.)
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