{"id":478759,"date":"2026-09-28T23:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478759\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T23:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T23:58:08","slug":"la-mayor-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478759\/","title":{"rendered":"LA mayor forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Gavin Newsom has beefed up protections for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights in his latest rebuke of what he and advocates say are attacks from the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/tag\/trump-administration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The outgoing governor signed over a dozen bills into law, some authored by Bay Area lawmakers, that increase safeguards around LGBTQ+ identity data, change how health insurance companies reimburse for HIV prevention drugs and expand access to medication abortion on certain community college campuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on the LGBTQ community, using medical records to target U.S. service members and civilians alike, hurting countless people and betraying hard-won trust,\u201d Newsom said in a statement. \u201cCalifornia will not stand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newsom\u2019s package of new laws is only the latest instance in which California has been at odds with President Donald Trump over policies focused on transgender residents. The administration unsuccessfully sued the state <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12047432\/us-sues-california-over-its-refusal-to-ban-transgender-athletes-from-girls-sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">over its refusal to ban<\/a> transgender athletes from girls sports. The president banned transgender people in the military early into his second term, but one of the bills Newsom signed this weekend expands veteran benefits to service members who were discharged under that policy.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, said the signings were yet another show of how the state responds to the dismantling of LGBTQ+ protections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia has spent decades building some of the strongest LGBTQ+ civil rights protections in the country, and we will continue building on that progress as long as our community remains under attack,\u201d Hoang said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The California Family Council, an advocacy group <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.californiafamily.org\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">with a stated goal of<\/a> \u201cadvancing God\u2019s Design for Life, Family, &amp; Liberty,\u201d has opposed at least one of the signed bills, Senate Bill 1114, over what they say is a prioritization of ideological confidentiality over child welfare.<\/p>\n<p>SB 1114 limits when sexual orientation, intersex and gender identity collected can be shared. Healthcare providers are also required to notify the attorney general when they receive subpoenas for protected healthcare activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c1114 does not protect children; it protects bureaucratic secrecy at the expense of parents and families,\u201d the group said in opposition earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom also signed SB 934, authored by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener. The law updates the state\u2019s ban on conversion therapy in response to the U.S. Supreme Court <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c1j75rz77x5o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">striking down a conversion therapy ban<\/a> in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom has long championed LGBTQ+ rights since he was mayor of San Francisco, including issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of a federal ban. But he\u2019s also faced criticism for previous comments on transgender athletes and <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Veto-msg-AB-2164.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a recent veto on a bill<\/a> that would have prevented future governors from honoring extradition requests for gender-affirming healthcare providers facing charges in other states.<\/p>\n<p>In March of last year, Newsom said on his podcast while in conversation with <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12055641\/after-kirks-death-trump-targets-critics-in-expanding-free-speech-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">late conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> that it was unfair for a transgender teenage girl to compete in a track and field competition.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12061434\/newsom-trump-sending-troops-to-monitor-californias-election-is-a-2026-preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">told KQED\u2019s Political Breakdown<\/a> that he disagreed with \u201cvitriol\u201d in discussions surrounding the topic, but that it is \u201cunfair in these circumstances.\u201d Months later, Newsom <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/12061591\/after-criticism-newsom-urges-clearer-rules-for-trans-girls-in-sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said it needed to be more clear<\/a> when transgender girl athletes can participate alongside cisgender girls.<\/p>\n<p>Separately and in a veto message a week ago, Newsom said that he agreed with AB 2164\u2019s authors about the importance of protecting gender-affirming healthcare. But he said he was \u201ctroubled by the precedent that would be set if an outgoing administration agreed with the Legislature to erode the executive authority of an incoming Governor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Senate bill, co-sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, strengthens access to the HIV prevention drug PrEP by improving reimbursement practices for healthcare providers. The law requires health insurance companies to cover long-acting injectable PrEP through medical and outpatient prescription drug benefits, which Lara said will remove \u201cunnecessary barriers\u201d to the care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy enacting this first-of-its-kind state law, California is again leading the country in making sure insurance companies never stand in the way of people accessing HIV prevention,\u201d said Tyler TerMeer, CEO of San Francisco AIDS Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom\u2019s signature on reproductive rights bills could include an expansion of abortion services to community college campuses.<\/p>\n<p>Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, who represents San Francisco, authored AB 2540, which requires community colleges with student health centers to offer medication abortion services if lawmakers dedicate funding.<\/p>\n<p>Stefani said in announcing the legislation in April that the services are \u201cessential health care, full stop. Yet too many community college students face real barriers to accessing care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The state already requires schools in the University of California and California State University systems to offer the same services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Gavin Newsom has beefed up protections for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights in his latest rebuke of what&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-478759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}