California approves three LGBT supportive laws

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed three major pro-LGBT bills into law.

One is a first-in-the-nation bill requiring that companies doing significant business with the state provide the same benefits to their transgender employees that cisgender (nontrans) workers receive.

The measure prohibits any state agency from entering into a contract in the amount of $100,000 or more with any company that does not offer equal benefits to all employees, regardless of gender identity. California is the first state to enact such a law; it goes into effect January 1.

The governor also signed a bill updating the laws governing assisted reproduction in ways that will benefit LGBT Californians. This law provides that unmarried couples using assisted reproduction to become parents will be recognized as such on the same terms as married parents from the moment their child is born; removes the requirement that a doctor or sperm bank must be involved when using assisted reproduction in order to ensure that the donor is not a parent; and provides clear direction as to how egg donors should be treated under California law. It also goes into effect with the new year.

Finally, Brown signed the LGBT Disparities Reduction Act, which will allow state agencies that oversee public health to collect voluntarily shared data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of the people they serve, just as they collect other types of demographic data. If the agencies see significant health disparities related to these characteristics, they much report them to legislators and the públic.

Gov. Brown signin the bills into laws