On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed and vetoed the last of a slew of bills passed by the state legislature this year. Out of nearly a thousand measures awaiting his signature, Newsom signed 794 into law and vetoed 123.

About the same ratio applied to bills designed to shore up state protections for transgender rights and the LGBTQ+ community, as the Trump administration’s crusade against LGBTQ+ identity presses on. However, he has faced anger from some trans community members for vetoing a bill to help provide hormone replacement therapy medications to patients at a time when hospitals and clinics are restricting such care because of Trump.

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Gavin Newsom vetoes gender education bill, hasn’t signed other trans protections

Newsom signed S.B. 497, which expands San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener’s (D) “State of Refuge” law, passed in 2022. The enhanced measure would prevent other states and private entities from subpoenaing private medical records from California.

This tactic has been employed by anti-trans government officials, like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), to hound recipients and providers of gender-affirming care in other states. The Trump administration, as well, is attempting to force hospitals to provide records on trans minors in pursuit of prosecutions relying on the president’s “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” executive order.

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A.B. 1084 and S.B. 59 take up name changes and gender markers for transgender individuals, streamlining the process and providing added privacy protections, respectively, while S.B. 450 enables out-of-state LGBTQ+ families to take advantage of California’s more inclusive adoption policies and protections for children born in the state.

A.B. 82 addresses two issues relevant to the LGBTQ+ community: It outlaws online targeting of gender-affirming care providers and patients, making it illegal to post or share their photos or private information with the intent of stoking violence. It also prohibits prescriptions of the hormone testosterone and the contraceptive mifepristone, both controlled substances in California, from being reported to the state’s monitoring agency.

Newsom’s signature on A.B. 749, the “Youth Sports for All Act,” was a chance for the governor to make up lost ground with the transgender community after he agreed with young conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in a March interview that trans student-athletes’ participation in girls’ sports is “unfair.” The bill directs a commission to improve access to sports for all groups “regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income, or geographic location.”

A.B. 1487 establishes an Equity Fund to address two-Spirit, transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex wellness, while S.B. 590 broadens paid family leave protections to include more diverse, queer and chosen families.

On Friday, Newsom signed A.B. 727, mandating schools and universities in the state provide youth with crisis hotline information, including LGBTQ+ hotlines after the Trump administration shut down the “option 3” Trevor Project hotline for LGBTQ+ youth over the summer.

A.B. 678, also signed Friday, updates a previous law establishing an Interagency Council on Homelessness, adding a requirement for the council to coordinate with representatives from LGBTQ+ communities to identify recommended policies and best practices for providing inclusive and culturally competent services to LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness, combating federal efforts to force homeless shelters to ban trans people.

Republicans rejected most of the measures signed by Newsom but some joined Democrats to pass the inclusive shelters legislation and chosen family leave protections.

Newsom vetoed two LGBTQ+ health-related measures, citing “concerns about affordability” in his veto messages: S.B. 418 provided nondiscrimination protections for health insurance plans and an insurance company mandate to offer a 12-month supply of prescription hormones. A.B. 554 required health insurance coverage for all FDA-approved medications that prevent HIV, like PrEP, without prior authorization.  

In nearly identical language addressing both bills, the governor wrote, “At a time when individuals are facing double-digit rate increases in their health care premiums across the nation, the state must weigh the potential benefits of all new mandates against the comprehensive costs to the entire health care delivery system.”  

In response to Newsom’s S.B. 418 veto, trans journalist Erin Reed wrote, “There’s also little evidence to support Newsom’s justification. Hormone therapy is among the least expensive forms of prescription medication. Generic estradiol tablets often cost under $20 for a 90-day supply, and testosterone modestly higher, but still in the low-priced generic tier.”

Reed added, “S.B. 418 would have been a critical backstop for trans Californians facing care disruptions. Under the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign of extortion, several clinics in the state have shut down programs for trans patients under 19yo, abruptly cutting off access to hormone therapy access.”

“California may still pass progressive legislation, but leadership is measured not by symbolic gestures—it’s measured by the courage to act when it matters. And when it came to the bill that could have made the most tangible difference for trans people this year, Gavin Newsom failed that test,” Reed concluded.

Last week, Newsom dismissed A.B. 86, a measure that would have tweaked language about health education standards for kindergarten through 8th grade. Republicans latched onto the legislation as an example of “gender ideology” at work in state government, with Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R) demanding Newsom veto it.

The bill promotes the “theory that reproductive anatomy does not necessarily determine a person’s gender,” Jones wrote to Newsom.

In his veto message, Newsom kicked the can. He wrote that he was sending the bill back to the state legislative Assembly because the measure should be considered after the state completes a study scrutinizing its public school health curricula.

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