California Governor Signs Two Transgender Bills

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills into law that extend special protections to transgender people, WORLD News Service reports. One bill, AB 887, enumerates existing gender-identity protections as categories in nondiscrimination laws in addition to clarifying that gender identity and expression are included in the definition of gender and sex in all California codes. Six governmental departments -- civil, education, government, insurance, labor and penal -- are affected. "That means, for example, employers have to allow men to dress like women at work, if that's their means of 'gender expression,'" said assemblywoman Toni Atkins, who introduced the bill. The second bill, AB 433, changes the laws regulating the way transgender people get new IDs and updated birth certificates. Previously, applications for an ID reflecting a gender change had to be accompanied by a doctor's note saying sex-change surgery had been performed; it also included room for third parties to file objections. The new law deletes the provisions for objections and makes the doctor's note "conclusive proof of gender change."