California just became the first U.S. state to establish Transgender History Month

California has become the first U.S. state to establish a Transgender History Month.

On Wednesday, the state Assembly voted in favor of House Resolution 57, introduced late last month by state Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), to recognize August as Transgender History Month beginning in 2024.

Related:

San Francisco becomes first city to officially recognize Transgender History Month

“San Francisco has been and always will be a place where everyone can seek refuge, sanctuary, and safety,” mayor London Breed stated.

Previously, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to declare August Transgender History Month back in 2021. Santa Clara made a similar declaration in 2022.

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“The history of transgender people is there if you look for it,” Haney said. “As long as there has been a California, there have been transgender people here contributing to their community, making history, expanding civil rights and helping to build a California that is more inclusive and prosperous for everyone.” 

The resolution mentions key moments in the state’s history, dating all the way back to 1775 when a Spanish soldier observed Indigenous men “in the dress, clothing, and character of women” who were “held in great esteem.” It also mentions the 1959 Cooper Do-nuts Riot in Los Angeles and the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, describing both as “important acts of collective resistance to police violence targeting trans people, years before the better-known Stonewall Riot in New York,” and notes that since 2017, San Francisco has been home to the world’s first legally recognized transgender cultural district.

“I believe that as Californians our strongest defense against the anti-trans agenda is just to tell the truth,” Haney said. “Let’s tell the truth about transgender people’s lives, and let’s lift up the history of the transgender Californians who left their mark on our great state.”

As the San Francisco Standard reports, Haney was joined outside the state Capitol on Wednesday by trans activist Jupiter Peraza and Honey Mahogany, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party and co-founder of the city’s transgender cultural district.

“Many Californians remain unaware of the real lives and experiences of transgender people, even here in California,” Mahogany said. “We can change that through awareness, education, and outreach, and I believe that establishing a Transgender History Month in California is one way we can do just that.”

The declaration comes as Republican lawmakers in other states have passed a record number of anti-trans laws aimed at banning gender-affirming care for young people, restricting trans people’s use of public restrooms that align with their gender identity, and prohibiting trans women from competing in women’s sports.

While similar laws have no chance of passing in the California Assembly, where Democrats hold a supermajority, a coalition of anti-LGBTQ+ conservative groups in the state recently announced an effort to add three anti-transgender initiatives to the state’s 2024 ballot. The three proposed ballot initiatives would require schools to notify parents if their child identifies as trans or nonbinary, ban gender-affirming care for minors, and ban trans students from competing on athletic teams that correspond with their gender identity.

“Recognizing and learning about transgender history humanizes a marginalized community, a community that has been the target of brutal and hateful legislative attacks in an effort to suppress self-expression and personal liberation,” Peraza said on Wednesday. “The way to do that is through education, awareness, history dissemination, mentorship and so much more.”