With the calendar turning over to 2025, a number of LGBTQ-related bills are becoming law this year. It means the state's LGBTQ households will see a slew of benefits kick in as of January 1 and the months to come.
One major change for low- to middle-income workers who are queer or transgender is a sizable increase in their paid family leave (PFL) and state disability insurance (SDI) benefits. Since 2023, LGBTQ workers and others have been able to take leave to care for their chosen family members, such as a roommate or friend, in addition to their biological relatives, spouses, and children.
Now, such individuals caring for a seriously ill parent, child, spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law or sibling who earn up to roughly $62,000 per year will see their PFL and SDI benefits increase to 90% of their regular wages. It is an increase from up to 60%-70%.
The change took effect on January 1 and is due to Senate Bill 951 authored by Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) and signed into law three years ago by Governor Gavin Newsom. (That fall, he also signed into law Assembly Bill 1041 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, expanding the family leave provisions to include chosen families so impacted workers can take paid sick leave and access job-protection during their leave taken to care for a "designated" chosen or extended family member, though they currently can't receive PFL income for doing so.)
"As a mother, a sister and a grandmother, I know how important it is to be there for your family when it really matters." stated Durazo, noting that the increase in benefits "will allow millions of workers, especially those paid lower wages, to finally afford to use the family and medical leave insurance benefits they have been contributing to for all these years."
LGBTQ family advocates were part of the coalition of more than 450 organizations that had called for the adoption of Durazo's bill. Among them was the San Francisco-based Our Family Coalition.
As its executive director, Mimi Demissew, who identifies as queer, had argued in a guest opinion piece about the issue for the Bay Area Reporter, "Our families are less likely than our heterosexual counterparts to have a family network to offer alternate child care or back up economic support during leave, due to social stigma and family rejection." The result, added Demissew, is often "LGBTQ+ families are being denied the ability to properly bond with our newborns or newly placed adopted children."
Another bill that Our Family Coalition and other LGBTQ advocates had supported in 2024 will see insurance plans as of July 1 be required to cover in vitro fertilization and other fertility and infertility treatments used by LGBTQ people who want to become parents, except if they work for a religious employer. SB 729 authored by lesbian state Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley) is bringing about the change in the policies.
It requires the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, also known as the Knox-Keene Act, be updated so that IVF is added to the list of infertility treatments most health insurance policies in California are required to cover. When it was enacted, IVF was not included.
The expansion in coverage will benefit "approximately 9 million Californians, including LGBTQ+ folks who were previously withheld equal opportunity to become parents under an archaic law that erased their rights," noted Menjivar in praising Newsom for signing her bill last fall.
Youth in the state's foster care system, many of whom identify as LGBTQ, can now accumulate upward of $10,000 in cash savings without losing their existing benefits or triggering redetermination of eligibility. It is due to the enactment of AB 2477 by gay Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) and is aimed at providing foster youth a fiscal cushion when they age out of the system.
Due to AB 2906 going into effect, California's 58 counties can no longer secretly intercept foster youth's Social Security survivor benefits. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) authored it last year after seeing Newsom veto a similar bill in 2023 that included both Social Security survivor and disability benefits.
Other health bills
As of January 1, health plans and insurers in the Golden State are required to cover preventive care such as PrEP, the HIV prevention medication, and screenings for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. It is due to the enactment of Zbur's AB 2258.
Due to SB 339 authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), health plans also are now required to reimburse pharmacists for their PrEP services, such as testing people to see if they are HIV-negative and having blood work done, things pharmacists can order without the need for patients to see their primary care physician. They can now also prescribe people a 90-day supply of PrEP to people without their first needing to speak with their doctor.
Also now covered is an ongoing supply of the HIV prevention medication if the patient is ensured follow-up care and testing consistent with federal guidelines for the usage of PrEP. The medicine is an effective intervention for keeping people HIV-negative, and Wiener's legislation addressed problems with an earlier bill he carried that didn't result in easy access to PrEP via pharmacies.
"People are really excited about the prospect of being able to obtain PrEP and PEP in a pharmacy without the need to get a prescription," said Wiener, referring to post-exposure prophylaxis that a person can take within 72 hours of their potentially being exposed to contracting HIV. "With the original version of the law we passed, due to political compromises we had to make, it just made the law unimplementable, and we have now fixed it."
It also comes at a time when HIV advocates and care providers are concerned about what actions President-elect Donald Trump and his administration may take this year. Wiener warned that the Republican leader and "his cronies" will try to take a "wrecking ball" to various federal health programs and want to curtail medical access in the name of cost-cutting or for ideological reasons.
"They are going to severely undermine our ability to get people living with HIV into care and also for HIV-negative people to access prevention tools. It is hard to overstate how bad it could get if Trump succeeds in his goal of gutting health care access," said Wiener. "We need to do everything we can at the state level to make it easier for people to access treatment and prevention."
State and local health department employees and contractors must now annually sign confidentiality agreements prior to accessing confidential HIV-related public health records. It is due to the enactment of SB 1333 authored last year by lesbian then-state senator Susan Talamantes Eggman; the Democrat from Stockton was termed out of the Legislature in December.
Her bill also allows for better coordination of care for people living with HIV at risk from other diseases and pandemics that emerge. Eggman's legislation was sparked by issues that cropped up during the 2022 mpox outbreak among men who have sex with men.
And due to Wiener's SB 957, the California Department of Public Health must implement all of the recommendations from a scathing 2023 audit that found its collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data was woefully inadequate and not meeting the requirements laid out in legislation adopted years ago by state lawmakers. The health information, known as SOGI data for short, is vital to ensuring that the health and wellness needs of LGBTQ Californians are being addressed.
Wiener told the B.A.R. that he and his staff continue to "periodically" check in with the statewide health agency on its progress addressing the issues raised by the state auditor. As the B.A.R. has previously reported, the state health department has been working to implement the audit's various recommendations and updating its forms to include the SOGI questions.
Its SOGI workgroup drafted updated SOGI data collection recommendations and new SOGI data display recommendations that it has been getting feedback on from local health officials. According to an update released by the state auditor last October, it listed a completion date for it as of December 31, 2026.
Under that same timeline, CDPH also is developing an annual exercise to evaluate the efforts of its branches to record and report SOGI data. And the agency is seeing what resources it needs to publish an annual report on SOGI data as required under Wiener's law.
"This annual exercise will require branches to submit a report detailing the outcomes of their data analyses, in addition to any actionable measures taken to improve services or program outcomes for underserved populations in the LGBTQ+ community," CDPH reported to the state auditor last fall.
With the enactment of SB 957, Wiener told the B.A.R. that his "hope and expectation is they will fully comply with it and we will have much better data."
Laws impacting LGBTQ youth take effect
Because of Newsom signing last summer AB 1955 by gay state Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), school districts across California are now banned from outing trans youth without their permission to their parents unless doing so is needed to protect their mental health. And under AB 1825 by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), known as the California Freedom to Read Act, public libraries not connected to schools in the state can't remove books from their collections or ban the purchase of new books related to subject matters like LGBTQ and race.
Books also can't be banned "because of the views, ideas, or opinions contained in materials," per the legislation. City or county run libraries that get state funding now must adopt a written and publicly accessible collection development policy by January 1, 2026.
As laid out by AB 1825, the policies are to guide the selection and deselection of library materials. They must also establish a process for community members to share their concerns regarding library materials and request materials be reconsidered for inclusion in the library's collection.
Changes in the law come online
People who are victims of doxing, where their private information like a home address and phone number are made public, can now seek upward of $30,000 in damages for pain and suffering via a civil action with Ward's AB 1979 taking effect. Known as the Doxing Victims Recourse Act, it aims to provide some legal relief to people who come under attack by online trolls, in particular trans individuals and their advocates.
And California is now the first state in the nation to codify the concept of intersectionality into its anti-discrimination laws. It is due to the enactment of SB 1137 authored by state Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).
It amends state anti-discrimination laws covering employment, housing, public accommodations, and education to clarify that they protect against discrimination based on not just one protected characteristic, but as Equal Rights Advocates noted, also the intersection or combination of two or more protected bases (e.g., gender and race, or gender and age, or race and LGBTQ+ status).
"By codifying the framework of intersectionality under California's anti-discrimination laws, SB 1137 will provide guidance to the courts, juries, and other decision-makers to ensure that plaintiffs' full experience and harm is recognized," explained the gender justice organization, which had co-sponsored SB 1137.
UPDATED 1/9/25 to clarify which workers can access paid family leave income.
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!