Governor Newsom Signs Most But Not All LGBTQ+ Defense Bills

Governor Newsom recently announced a list of bills he has signed or vetoed. He signed most of the bills supported by Equality California , most of which we pushed for as well. Our phone calls, emails, and hand-written letters made a difference!

However, he vetoed two bills (quote from EQCA):

AB 554 (González): Expanding Access to HIV Prevention Would have guaranteed access to groundbreaking PrEP medications without cost-sharing or insurance barriers like prior authorization, safeguarding access to HIV prevention regardless of federal rollbacks.

SB 418 (Menjivar): Protecting Access to Healthcare Would have codified federal nondiscrimination protections in California law and expanded access to care for transgender people by requiring health plans to cover 12-month prescriptions for hormone therapy.

In both explanation letters , Newsom cites worries about healthcare costs. Even though hormone therapy is the cheapest tier of prescriptions and a similar law in Washington did not raise healthcare costs. Even though steady medications, nondiscrimination in healthcare, and prevention of HIV transmission would improve health and also most likely save healthcare costs in the long run.

Newsom did sign AB-1487 (Addis), the Two-Spirit, Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Wellness and Equity Fund, which funds grants to healthcare organizations serving these communities. This pattern raises the question - does Newsom only oppose healthcare costs when they are borne by penny wise and pound foolish private insurers?

Newsom now owns LGBTQ+ health outcomes. Anything that could have been prevented by these bills is on him.

Newsom has reluctantly shown spine. But the partial support makes a California is a follower, not a leader, in defending the LGBTQ+ community, with whom he is still far from restoring trust.

Still, this is a much better outcome than feared. With his pen, Gavin Newsom has proved himself as an unreliable ally.

See Equality California's press release for more information.

Call to action

Call Gavin Newsom's office and thank him.

Gov. Newsom,

My name is ___. I'm a constituent and my zip code is ___. I'm a member of Indivisible, San Francisco.

Thank you for signing most of the LGBTQ+ defense bills on your desk. I am proud that California welcomes and protects all Americans.

I fear that after your vetoes of AB-554 and SB-418, LGBT health will suffer. Nobody deserves healthcare discrimination, their medication to be interrupted by politics, or to get preventable HIV after having to make a hard financial decision. I hope that next year, you will sign all the bills.