New proposal would offer California legal protections for transgender families escaping Texas

California would become a haven for transgender children and their families escaping states with anti-transgender policies and laws, under a proposed bill.

The California bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would block out-of-state court judgments removing a transgender child from their parents’ custody based on the parents allowing their child to receive gender-affirming medical care.

It would also bar the state from complying with any out-of-state subpoenas seeking health or other related information about people who come to California to receive gender-affirming medical treatment, if the subpoena relates to efforts to criminalize individuals or remove children from their homes for having received such treatment.

Finally, it would declare that any out-of-state criminal arrest warrant for someone based on violating another state’s law against receiving gender-affirming care would be the lowest priority for law enforcement in California.

In a tweet, Wiener explained that, “We have to navigate the U.S. Constitution, which requires states to honor arrest warrants from other states. We are exploring with legal experts whether we can go further on this aspect of the bill. Stay tuned.”

The proposed legislation comes as Texas has sought to investigate parents of transgender children who are receiving gender-affirming treatment for suspected child abuse and possible removal of those children from their homes. A state judge put that policy on hold with a temporary injunction, but Texas is appealing. In response to the policy, the Texas Children’s Hospital announced that it is halting gender-affirming medical treatment, according to the Washington Post.

It also comes as states like Idaho and Alabama weigh bills that would criminalize providing gender-affirming treatment, such as puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy, to transgender children. While the Idaho bill is now dead, the Alabama bill is still moving through that state’s legislature.

“What states like Texas and Idaho are doing to trans kids and their parents is unconscionable, and we must send a clear signal that California is a place of refuge for LGBTQ people,” Wiener said in a statement. “The history of the LGBTQ community is a history of criminalization and violence. Society trying to erase us and then punishing us if we refuse to be erased, whether by death, incarceration, beatings, lobotomies, electric shock therapy, conversion therapy, or other forms of violence. California will not be a party to this new phase of deadly LGBTQ criminalization.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 11:55 AM.