The California Senate has advanced a controversial bill that severely undermines public safety, free speech, and the recognition of biological reality. On June 2, the California Senate approved SB 59 by a 28 to 10 vote to seal all court records related to sex changes and prohibit the disclosure of such information. The bill now heads to the Assembly Judiciary Committee with a hearing set for tomorrow, June 17.
If the bill is passed by the Assembly and signed by Governor Newsom, not only will it violate free speech, it will wreak havoc on safety and truth by stymieing law enforcement, doctors, and sports organizations from identifying people or knowing their sex, particularly in the case of people who have undergone major medical transitions.
A Dubious Justification
Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced SB 59, claiming to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “we know that trans people are at increased risk, not just of violence, but also of harassment, doxing, bullying. And so, protecting their privacy is important.” The bill’s text states that records must be sealed to protect transgender-identifying people from “a growing epidemic of harassment and violence in California and across the country,” citing statistics on supposed anti-trans hate crimes. The bill is premised on the idea that people need to hide their true sex in order to avoid the “epidemic” of hateful anti-trans violence and harassment.
However, according to multiple studies by pro-transgender researchers, data on violent crimes against transgender-identifying people is difficult to gather and what data has been gathered indicates that transgender-identifying people are less likely than average to be victims of homicide. The bill cites research that shows transgender-identifying people experience a higher rate of non-fatal rape and assault, but this is driven by the dramatically higher rate of intimate partner violence against transgender-identifying people, which is clearly not the result of victims’ sex being identified using official documentation.
Claims of harassment and bullying against transgender-identifying people are difficult to assess, since “deadnaming” (using a person’s previous name) and “misgendering” (using language that reflects their true sex) are often counted as forms of sexual harassment.
Identification Chaos
SB 59 would allow someone to secretly change his or her sex and name together after committing a crime. If a law enforcement officer found official records of their original identity, that officer would be legally prohibited from sharing those records, even in court. Letting anybody secretly change their sex on official documents at any time radically undermines identity verification and will endanger Californians.
The Final Blow to Biological Sex
The purpose of SB 59 is to make it impossible to know someone’s true sex. Efforts to separate males and females in prisons or school sports would become pointless unless DNA tests are mandated. Any law that refers to a person’s birth sex would become meaningless since a person could change their sex on their birth certificate and hide that it was ever changed.
SB 59 also threatens those who need to know someone’s biological sex for medical reasons. If a doctor discovers an unconscious patient’s biological sex on their old official documentation and shares it with others even though it is considered confidential, that doctor has committed a crime.
Bans True Speech
If SB 59 passes, it will be illegal for anyone to publicly share unchanged documents identifying a person’s true sex with their original name once those documents have been changed. Outlawing the communication of true information is a blatant violation of the free speech rights that are guaranteed to all Americans by the First Amendment. The fact that some people want to keep secrets does not overrule the Constitution or allow a state to ban information from being publicized by private citizens, journalists, or law enforcement. If passed, it is our hope that this law will be challenged and struck down as unconstitutional.
The Battle Ahead
Through SB 59, legislators have demonstrated their desperation to utterly remove the reality of biological sex from the lives of Californians, even at the cost of public safety, justice, and the fundamental right to free speech. We urge the legislature to reject this bill and call on citizens to raise their voices in protest.
