California law protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in schools, healthcare, employment, housing, and custody, even as the federal government targets trans, gender expansive, and intersex people. The ACLU of Southern California and partner advocates have published a detailed know-your-rights guide so that Californians can understand and use those protections right now.

A guide worth reading before you need it

The ACLU of Southern California, together with California LGBTQ+, civil rights, and healthcare advocates, has published a know-your-rights document specifically aimed at trans, gender expansive, and intersex people and their families in California. It was last updated on 21 August 2026. The document is clear about what it is and what it is not: it is a community resource, not legal advice, and anyone facing a live legal problem should speak to a solicitor promptly. But as a map of what California law currently guarantees, it is thorough and it is honest.

The guide opens with something I think it is worth saying plainly: the Trump administration is openly targeting trans, gender expansive, and intersex people for discrimination and erasure. That is not spin. It is what is happening, and the organisations behind this document are not pretending otherwise. Several of them are actively suing the federal government to prevent those policies from taking effect.

What California law actually covers

The protections are broader than many people realise, and they sit in California statute, not in federal goodwill. Here are the main areas.

In schools, students have the right to be known by their chosen name and pronouns, to use facilities that match their gender, to participate in sports on the same basis, and to update their records. Schools cannot require teachers or staff to out a student's gender identity or sexual orientation without that student's consent. They must take active steps to prevent bullying on those grounds. And they cannot ban books or curricula that include LGBTQ+ lives. These are not aspirations; they are legal requirements.

In healthcare, California defines gender-affirming care as medically necessary healthcare that respects the gender identity of the patient as experienced and defined by the patient. The state supports access to that care for both adults and young people. California has also taken steps to shield families accessing gender-affirming care in the state, and the providers offering it, from prosecution by other states. The Attorney General has confirmed that healthcare providers must continue to follow California law in this area, regardless of federal pressure.

In employment, employers must use workers' correct names and pronouns, allow them to use the appropriate facilities, and cannot discriminate or harass on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, or transition status. In housing, discrimination based on gender identity or expression is prohibited, including in emergency shelter settings. Although the federal government has floated regulations that would harm trans people's access to gender-aligned shelter beds, those have not been finalised or taken effect.

In child custody proceedings, courts cannot discriminate against LGBTQ+ parents. And for name changes, California has made records of name change proceedings automatically confidential: for adults, in proceedings initiated on or after 1 July 2026, and for minors, in proceedings initiated on or after 1 January 2024. That confidentiality matters. People should not have to fear that a legal record of aligning their name with their identity becomes a target.

Rights you do not know about are rights you cannot use

This is the thing I keep coming back to. The federal government's strategy, and it is a strategy, relies partly on people not knowing what they are actually entitled to. When a school administrator behaves as though the political climate has changed their legal obligations, or when a healthcare provider grows uncertain about what they can offer, the people who pay the price are trans young people and their families, often the ones with least power to push back.

A document like this one is not a complete answer to what is happening politically. The organisations behind it are clear about that. The law can change rapidly, and they acknowledge it. But knowing what the law says right now, in precise terms, with citations, is what makes it possible to advocate for yourself. It is what makes it possible to say: this is what you are required to do, and I know it.

California is not a safe haven in some abstract, symbolic sense. It is a jurisdiction where specific legal protections exist in specific statutes, where the Attorney General has confirmed those obligations in writing, and where state officials have committed to defending them. That is genuinely meaningful to the families who live there and who need those protections to hold.

For those outside California

This guide is California-specific, and the legal landscape varies enormously by state. If you are outside California, the protections in your state may be very different, and in some states they are being actively dismantled. The ACLU has state affiliates across the country, and checking what your own state currently guarantees, while that information is still accurate, is worth doing sooner rather than later.

What I would say to anyone reading this, wherever they are: the goal of the current federal approach is to make trans people feel that the law has abandoned them. In many places it has not, and knowing that changes things. Rights that exist only in theory are not much use, but rights that people know about, that they can name and cite and insist upon, are a different matter entirely.

The full guide is available at the ACLU of Southern California's website.

If there is a news story you would like me to cover then just let Sammy know.

Dr Helen Webberley is a Gender Specialist, Medical Educator, and advocate for trans rights and gender diversity.