While Washington keeps chipping away at LGBTQ+ protections, California just added six new ones at once.

On Saturday, September 26, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a six-bill package that his office described as a direct response to federal policy. “The Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on the LGBTQ community, using medical records to target U.S. servicemembers and civilians alike,” Newsom said in the governor’s announcement.

Here’s what each bill does, and who it’s for.

1. Help for trans troops pushed out of the military (AB 1775)

Author: Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego)

This one supports service members discharged under the federal trans military ban, with housing, employment and transition assistance, according to the governor’s office.

It lands at a pointed moment. Last week, members of Congress gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until October 14 to explain why some discharged trans troops still haven’t received their separation pay. Advocates have also raised alarms about the Pentagon using medical records to identify trans service members, which is the practice Newsom’s statement referred to.

“California continues to show what it means to stand with LGBTQ+ people and protect the dignity, safety, and freedom,” Ward said.

2. A shield around gender-affirming and abortion care records (AB 1930)

Author: Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood)

This bill limits data sharing around abortion and gender-affirming care. It also requires health providers to notify California’s Attorney General when they receive subpoenas about legally protected health care, per the governor’s office.

Why it matters: the Justice Department has been subpoenaing hospitals over trans youth care, and six hospital systems have now settled and stopped providing it. The notification rule means the state finds out, and can respond, before records walk out the door.

3. An updated conversion therapy law (SB 934)

Author: Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)

This year the US Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s conversion therapy ban for minors on free speech grounds in Chiles v. Salazar, putting similar laws in more than 20 states at risk. California’s ban had to adapt.

SB 934 works the Court’s ruling into state law and gives survivors more time to sue practitioners who tried to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to Senator Wiener’s office and Local News Matters:

  • If you were under 18 when it happened, you can file a claim before you turn 40.
  • If you were an adult, you have 10 years from your last session.
  • You can also sue within five years of discovering an injury or illness caused by the attempts.

The bill was sponsored by Equality California, Lambda Legal, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, the California LGBTQ Legislative Caucus, the Trevor Project and Trans Family Support Services.

In other words, California is shifting some of the fight from licensing rules to survivors’ ability to hold practitioners accountable in court.

4. Easier access to PrEP and PEP (SB 1023)

Author: Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)

This strengthens HIV prevention by improving access to PrEP (the daily or long-acting pill or shot that prevents HIV) and PEP (the emergency course you start within hours of a possible exposure). Federal funding for HIV prevention has been under pressure all year, which puts more weight on state action.

5. Keeping LGBTQ+ data private (SB 1114)

Author: Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-Yolo)

This one restricts disclosure of data on people’s sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status. It’s a quieter bill, but in a year when federal agencies have gone looking for exactly this kind of information, it could matter a lot.

6. LGBTQ+ resources at satellite campuses (SB 1328)

Author: Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside)

Public colleges and universities must make their LGBTQ+ resources available at satellite campuses too, not just the main one. If you’ve ever been a queer student at a branch campus an hour from the nearest pride centre, you get why.

“Every LGBTQ+ Californian deserves to feel valued in all aspects of their life,” Cervantes said.

The money behind it

The laws sit alongside funding. According to the governor’s office, California’s 2026–27 budget sets aside $66 million to keep care going for patients without coverage for abortion or gender-affirming care, including $10 million specifically for gender-affirming care for children and youth.

The bigger picture

California has been the country’s most active counterweight to federal anti-trans policy, and this package is designed that way: almost every bill answers a specific federal move, from the military ban to hospital subpoenas to the Supreme Court’s conversion therapy ruling.

The limits are real, though. A state can’t reinstate anyone in the military or overturn a Supreme Court decision. What it can do is soften the landing for people caught in the middle, and make it harder for federal investigators to use California’s own records against Californians.

If you’re outside the US and wondering why a state bill package is on your feed: what happens in Washington doesn’t stay there. US policy on HIV funding and trans health has already rippled through global LGBTQ+ funding, and states like California are now where much of the pushback lives.