California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes pro-trans rights bill

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a piece of pro-transgender legislation that would have instructed family court judges to consider parents’ affirmation of their transgender children’s identities as one factor among many when determining custody or visitation rights.

In a statement, Newsom said that he still has “a deep commitment to advancing the rights of transgender Californians” but that he urges “caution when the executive and legislative branches of state government attempt to dictate — in prescriptive terms that single out one characteristic — legal standards for the judicial branch to apply.”

Related:

Who is Gavin Newsom? Where does he stand on LGBTQ rights?

Newsom has proven himself a strong and dependable ally for queer civil rights and dignity, both in his home state and nationwide.

“Other-minded elected officials, in California and other states, could very well use this strategy to diminish the civil rights of vulnerable communities,” his statement said, adding that courts are already required to take a child’s “health safety and welfare” into account when determining the best interests of the child, which he said already includes their affirmation of a child’s gender.

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The bill became the subject of repeated rightwing attacks, which said that it would take children away from parents if they didn’t support their transgender children enough, which experts said was a mischaracterization of the bill.

The bill “does not announce any bright line rules forbidding the judge to award custody to a denying parent or mandating that the judge award a child to an affirming parent,” University of Southern California family law professor Scott Altman told ABC News.

The bill doesn’t specify any medical treatments a trans child needs to be receiving and instead just mentions affirmation that promotes a child’s health and well-being.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D) introduced the bill, A.B. 957, and said that she was disappointed that Newsom would veto it.

“I’ve been disheartened over the last few years as I watched the rising hate and heard the vitriol towards the trans community,” she said in a statement. “My intent with this bill was to give them a voice, particularly in the family court system where a non-affirming parent could have a detrimental impact on the mental health and well-being of a child.”

“Our job as legislators is to set clear standards for judges to apply and that’s what we did here,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), a co-author of the California Senate version of the bill. He called the veto a “tragedy.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the bill that was vetoed as A.B. 857. We regret the error.