Out California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) has introduced a bill to protect trans peoples privacy in preparation for the incoming Trump administration. Donald Trumps ire toward trans people and his planned assault on their rights will only embolden abusive right-wing extremists, Wiener said.S.B. 59, also called the Transgender Privacy Act, would establish an automatic process to seal all court records regarding someones gender transition in the state, including retroactively sealing those that already exist. It would also ensure all gender transition records that refer to the person by their dead name or sex assigned at birth would be sealed. Related Donald Trumps endless assault on our nation is exhausting. But complacency is not an option. We must learn from the past and imagine new waysofdefending our rights and our power. A similar law applying only to youth was passed in 2023. Wieners bill specifically applies to those over 18. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today 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, Wiener said in a statement. Making this personal identifying information public after someone transitions, including a persons dead name, as well as the basic fact that theyre trans or nonbinary, pointlessly exposes trans and nonbinary Californians to harassment and potential violence.If passed, California would join Washington, Oregon, and New York in having some form of privacy laws to protect trans people from being forcibly outed by state records. When I learned I was unable to change my name in California without being forcibly outed online and exposed to harassment I was appalled, said Hazel Williams, a trans activist who worked on the legislation with Wiener, according to the Bay Area Reporter. Im proud to help rally community members and advocacy organizations to fix this. There are 220,000 transgender and nonbinary adults in California. All of us deserve privacy and safety and this legislation is a vital step in that direction.The legislation follows a decision last year by Fresnos 5th District Court of Appeal that granted a trans woman in the state the right to seal her transition-related records after she was outed on social media, harassed by anonymous users, and forced to close all her accounts. While the decision set a precedent for judges to grant requests to seal transition records, it does not require them to do so the way Wieners bill would. As Trump and his cronies continue their cynical incitements of violence against transgender people, its critical that we fight back with progressive protections at the state level, Syd Simpson, co-chair of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ_ Democratic Clubs Transgender Caucus, told the Bay Area Reporter. Its really scary to know that there are people out there who want to hurt you and that your personal information is just sitting there for them to exploit. The right to privacy and the right to be safe are precious to our community, and weve got to fight for them.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.