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All Gender Transition Court Records Would Be Rendered Confidential Under Senate Bill
By a MetNews Staff Writer
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, yesterday announced the introduction by him of proposed legislation that would automatically make all court records related to gender transition confidential in an effort, he said, to reduce the risk that transgender persons will be “outed” and exposed to harassment or violence.
The proposal, Senate Bill 59—dubbed the “Transgender Privacy Act”—would amend Health & Safety Code §103437. It builds off of Assembly Bill 223, passed in 2023, which requires courts to keep confidential records relating to a minor’s petition for a legal change.
“This bill would expand that confidentiality provision to apply to all filed petitions for a change of gender and sex identifier or filed petitions for a change of gender, sex identifier, and name, and any papers associated with the proceeding, regardless of the age of the person who filed the petition,” the legislative counsel’s digest says.
The provisions of the bill, introduced on Wednesday, are to apply retroactively to render confidential all court records relating to name, gender, and/or sex change.
Senator Comments
Wiener said:
“The incoming Trump Administration and Republican Congressional leadership have made clear that targeting and erasing trans people is among their highest policy priorities, and California must have our trans community members’ backs. Making this personal identifying information public after someone transitions—including a person’s dead name, as well as the basic fact that they’re trans or non-binary—pointlessly exposes trans and nonbinary Californians to harassment and potential violence.
“Unfortunately, right-wing groups and individuals have used publicly available personal information to harass trans people in California and across the nation. The incoming Trump administration will only embolden abusive right-wing extremists, and it is up to states like California to defend LGBTQ and other targeted communities amid a rising swell of hate.”
Fifth District Decision
Yesterday’s announcement pointed to last October’s In re M.T. decision, in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal held that a person has a constitutionally protected privacy right to conceal transgender identity and to petition in court to have all records sealed relating to a legal name-change or judicial gender reclassification.
The petitioner in that case—Madeline Thompson—was born a male named Anthony Thompson but successfully petitioned the court in 2017, when she was 19 years old, for legal recognition of her female name and gender identity. She returned to court in 2023 to request that the court seal the entire record relating to her transition, asserting that she was harassed online after being “outed” on social media as transgender and subjected to intimidation campaigns.
Justice Kathleen Meehan wrote the opinion directing the lower court to seal all records. Meehan acknowledged that California’s liberal name change policy carries with it a strong presumption in favor of keeping the records public and that sealing may create the ability to avoid financial obligations.
However, she said the fact that Thompson’s social security number remained the same guarded against such concerns.
Judicial Discretion
The announcement acknowledges that, after In re M.T., transgender individuals may petition to seal their records, but says that “the decision about whether or not to seal the records is left up to the judges to determine on a case by case basis—transgender people need to know, definitively, that their records are public and request that they be sealed to gain protection.”
SB 59 would remove judicial discretion from the equation, providing that the records “shall be kept confidential by the court.” Once a petition is granted, access would be restricted “to the petitioner, an adult who signed the petition, and an attorney representing those individuals.”
It requires that the “Judicial Council… ensure that all courts have implemented a method to ensure the court maintains the confidentiality of all petitions and papers” in connection with proceedings to reflect a change in name and gender. It also provides:
“If an interested party or the court discovers that a court record in the proceeding, including the register of actions, is not being kept confidential by the court, the court shall immediately take steps to make such a record confidential as soon as it is brought to the court’s attention and without a fee or requirement for a court order directing the correction.”
Public Disclosure Forbidden
The bill adds:
“A confidential record pursuant to this section shall not be posted publicly, on the internet or otherwise, by a person other than the petitioner.”
It does not set forth what consequences would ensue from a violation of that provision.
The bill is labeled an “urgency” measure. It explains:
“To address the increase in discrimination, violence, harassment, and hate crimes motivated by antitransgender bias, in order to prevent their personal information being exposed by being nonconsensually outed, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.”
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