Gavin Newsom makes California 'sanctuary state' for gender transition surgeries for minors

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California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law multiple bills to strengthen the state's commitment to abortions and irreversible gender-altering surgeries for minors, making California into a “sanctuary state” for child gender surgery.

Ratified on Thursday, a new law restricts Californian authorities and health providers from cooperating with out-of-state attempts to stop children from getting gender altering services, which include puberty blockers, sex change hormones, and elective surgeries relating to gender such as mastectomies for teenage girls.

“In California we believe in equality and acceptance. We believe that no one should be prosecuted or persecuted for getting the care they need — including gender-affirming care,” Newsom said on Thursday, the LA Times reported. 

“Parents know what’s best for their kids, and they should be able to make decisions around the health of their children without fear. We must take a stand for parental choice,” he added.

The law bans health care providers from releasing medical records about a child receiving gender-transitioning services in response to a criminal or civil action from states where such procedures are illegal when performed on children.

The law also bans police from arresting or extraditing someone based on another state’s prohibitions against providing gender health services to children, and prohibits Californian authorities from enforcing another state’s orders that a child be removed from parents who allow their child to go ahead with the procedures.

Additionally, the law allows a California court to take “temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care,” and prohibits courts from “considering the taking or retention of a child from a person who has legal custody of the child, if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care or mental health care.”

“While attacks on the transgender community are not new, we are experiencing alarmingly blatant attempts to use legislation, policy and political rhetoric to restrict or eliminate the autonomy, freedom and existence of transgender people across the country,” said LGBTQ advocacy group Equality California. 

The bill that led to the law’s passage was sponsored by State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco.

In 2020, Wiener sponsored a law combating discrimination against the LGBTQ community that allowed for discretion in adding adults who have oral or anal sex with a child up to ten years younger than them to the sex offender registry. Wiener argued that the law would end California's anti-LGTBQ discriminatory treatment of specific sex acts regarding sex offender registry law.