Ensure your legal documents, such as wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, are up-to-date to safeguard your rights and those of your loved ones.

For transgender individuals, it's crucial to have identification documents that accurately reflect your name and gender. Given potential policy changes, securing these documents promptly is advisable.

For the time being, California’s laws and federal law broadly protect LGBTQ+ Californians from discrimination. And several of our organizations are suing the Trump administration to try to prevent his harmful orders from taking effect. As the federal landscape evolves, we will do our best to keep our families and community informed of their rights. 

This webpage is meant for community members and advocates, to help you understand the federal impacts to our community. It is a resource for you to know what rights you have in California and includes information to advocate for yourself and others.

Disclaimers: This webpage and the resources on this webpage alone are not legal advice. If you have a potential legal problem, you should promptly consult with an attorney about what options you may have and what time limits may apply. The law may change rapidly, so the information and links on this webpage may have changed since the date of publication. The information and resources here focus on transgender and gender expansive rights in California; this factsheet on Anti-Trans EOs includes a handful of LGBTQ+ resources and protections available in our state but is not a comprehensive list of everything available. 

Actions to take if you are being discriminated against:

Document what happened. Take notes on what happened, whom you communicated with, and who might have been a witness. Save copies of all emails, texts, complaints, photos, and documents. Try to identify who may have made the decision to discriminate against you. If you cannot identify one person, identify a facility, office, or group of people. It is important to document so you can provide evidence about your experience.

File a complaint with a relevant state agency, such as:

• California Civil Rights Department’s Civil Rights in California Businesses
• CA vs. Hate hotline for reporting hate crimes and hate incidents, operated by the California Civil Rights Department
• ACLU SoCal’s California LGBTQ Employment Rights resource
• California Department of Justice’s LGBTQ+ Discrimination Rights webpage
• California Civil Rights Department’s The Rights of Employees Who Are Transgender or Gender Nonconforming fact sheet
• California Department of Insurance’s Equal Access to Health Insurance: Coverage for Transgender Californians webpage

Factsheets

• Anti-Trans Executive Orders factsheet
• Considerations for U.S. Passports, Immigration Forms, and Documents for Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex People factsheet
• Fight For Our Health District Factsheets available for California's 22nd, 40th, and 41st Congressional Districts - available here
• An Advocate's Guide to Access Gender-Affirming Care in California - download publication

Resources

• Lambda Legal:lambdalegal.org/helpdesk/
  Legal Help Desk: 213-382-7600
• National Center for Lesbian Rights (which serves the whole LGBTQ+ community): nclrights.org/get-help/
  Legal helpline: 800-528-6257 or 415-392-6257
• Transgender Law Center: transgenderlawcenter.org/resources/
  Legal Help Desk: 415-865-0176
• California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.: crla.org/locations
  Phone line:  1-800-337-0690
• National Health Law Program - Medicaid Defense - Resources and Analysis
• Community Catalyst Medicaid Defense - Outreach Tools for Advocates
• San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ Organization Directory
• Contact your local LGBTQ+ Community Center for legal resources specific to your county: For example, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has legal resource information here: lalgbtcenter.org/services/legal-services/.
• Unique Woman's Coalition provides core services such as a Legal Document Clinic which inclusde the following: name/gender petitions, CA birith certificate forms, advanced health directives, last will and testament, no fee ID forms, power of attorney.
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) has a landing page with information on how to Stop the Attacks on Section 504 here.
• SAGE's recent webinar, Trump's First 30 Days: What LGBTQ+ Older People Need to Know. 
  • *Please Note: This webinar was recorded on 2/20/2025 and updates & analysis shared may no longer be up-to-date given the rapid development of the proposed policy changes & corresponding lawsuits*

Other

• Five misleading claims from Trump's executive order on trans youth health care - POLITIFACT

Community Support - Engage with local LGBTQ+ organizations and support groups. These communities can offer resources, advocacy, and a sense of solidarity during challenging times. For instance, the National Center for Transgender Equality provides valuable information and assistance. Visit our County Resources page or CenterLink to find your local LGBTQ+ organization.

• Trans Lifeline is a peer support and crisis hotline offering phone support to transgender people. It is the first transgender crisis hotline to exist in the United States as well as Canada. It is also the only suicide hotline whose operators are all transgender.
• The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth under 25.
• The LGBT National Hotline offers peer counseling, information, and local resources. Call 1-888-843-4564
• SAGE LGBT Elder Hotline allows you to speak with friendly responders. This hotline is free and available 24/7. Call 1-877-360-LGBT (5428)
• The Alexis Project provides various services for LGBTQ+ individuals, transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people. Their comprehensive services are designed to meet the mental and physical health needs of the community, ensuring they receive the intentional and compassionate care one deserves. Their services are open to any age.
• Unique Woman's Coalition has a Legal Doc Clinic that includes name/gender petitions, CA birth certificate forms, advances health directives, last will and testament, no fee ID forms, and power of attorney. They also host monthly support groups such as Melanin Magic.

To have your organization added to this list, please email us at info@californialgbtqhealth.org.

California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network press hits

• Trump's Executive Orders and How They Impact LGBTQ+ Communities - read statement
• LGBTQ & Health Advocates Condemn Federal Executive Order to Restrict Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth - read joint statement with Health Access California
• LA clinics lose funding for transgender health care as Trump executive orders take hold - CalMatters
• The Assault on Diversity and the LGBTQ+ Community - KPFA Radio
• Trump's executive order target - Modesto Bee
• Impacts of Trump's Anti-Trans Actions Already Felt in California - KQED Radio
• Children’s Hospital LA keeps limits on transgender care amid challenges to Trump order - Los Angeles Times
• Why Children's Hospital LA finds itself in a quandary over gender-affirming care - LAist
• California Youth and Behavioral Health Advocates: Anti-Trans Rhetoric Harms Youth Mental Health - County Behavioral Health Directors Association California

Other News 

• Children's Hospital LA reverses course on youth gender care after Trump order - LAist
• Judge pauses President Trump's order restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth - Learn more
• The LGBTQI+ Community Reported High Rates of Discrimination in 2024 - Learn more
• Trump's firings across the federal government have included: the illegal firing without cause of leaders of independent boards, including a member of NLRB, two members of EEOC, and both agencies’ general counsels, during their statutory terms; and of 18 independent Inspectors General; blatantly retaliatory firing or reassigning of numerous senior career officials and prosecutors across DOJ; summarily placing large numbers of career staff on administrative leave at agencies, including 160 career detailees at NSC and 50+ senior USAID officials; and orders for immediate layoff notices for DEIA-related jobs by 1/31
• USAID has seemingly been illegally shuttered and its operations frozen entirely by the White House and Elon Musk, with plans to permanently dismantle the statutorily-mandated agency and statutorily-mandated and congressionally-funded programs (including critical programs focused on HIV/AIDS and several focused in whole or in part on LGBTQI+ human rights defenders or communities) - Learn more

Partner Organization Engagement Opportunities

• Fight For Our Health Coalition - Ongoing federal challenges create a constant uphill battle as we fight to protect our existing rights and advocate for better healthcare in California. The Trump administration continues to threaten these efforts. Learn more about how this coalition is taking action and how you can get involved here.

• Aggressively steering federal funds to private and religious schools: This directs agencies to take aggressive and fast-moving action to steer tax dollars to largely unregulated private and religious schools, including but not limited to new guidance or policy changes for ED formula funds; ED and DOL discretionary grants; HHS Child Care and Development Block Grants; the DOD Education Agency; and the Bureau of Indian Education. Timelines for reviews, plans, or simply issuing new guidance vary from just 60 to 90 days.
• Turning Guantanamo Bay into a massive offshore immigrant concentration camp.
• Reinstating the expanded Global Gag Rule, and ordering a plan to apply it to “global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies.”
• Expanding a "DEI hires" witch-hunt at FAA: A day-one memo already targeted FAA as a test case for rooting out so-called “DEI hires,” ordering reviews of "the past performance and performance standards of all individuals in critical safety positions." A new memo now orders a review of "all hiring decisions" since 2021 to look for anyone “unqualified.”
• Illegally canceling recently finalizing union contracts for many federal workers.
• Expanding criminal, deportation threats to "combat campus anti-Semitism": This is new from prior EOs on the topic, including urging colleges to spy and report on their international students.
• Creating a council to consider gutting or eliminating FEMA.