CA Bills Address Health, LGBT School Issues

California lawmakers are being asked to expand the number of state agencies required to collect LGBT demographic data and readdress the issue of LGBT discrimination on the campuses of religious affiliated colleges and universities during the new legislative session.

They also have under consideration the creation of a "bill of rights" for LGBT seniors living in assisted care facilities and a request to expand insurance coverage of a procedure that benefits HIV-positive individuals.

The quartet of bills are in addition to the six other pieces of legislation that make up statewide LGBT advocacy organization Equality California's legislative package this year. The other bills all address legal issues that impact the LGBT community. (See related story.)

"This year's legislative package is part of our continuing effort to address the disparities that LGBT people face as a result of longstanding discrimination and lack of acceptance," stated EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur.

Of the four bills, the most controversial one will likely be Assembly Bill 888, authored by gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the new chair of the Legislature's LGBT caucus. It would require private colleges and universities receiving Cal Grant funding to annually report how many LGBT students they have disciplined or expelled because they are LGBT or have engaged in LGBT community or advocacy activities.

The bill follows on the heels of similar legislation passed last year, and authored by gay state Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), that requires schools to publicly disclose if they have received a waiver of the requirements of the federal Title IX, which protects LGBT students from discrimination. It also requires colleges to notify the state Student Aid Commission, which oversees Cal Grants, each time a student is expelled for violating a school's moral code of conduct.

Due to fierce opposition from faith-based schools and their supporters, Lara removed a provision from his bill that would have allowed students to sue if they felt they had been discriminated against. The opponents of the provision argued it would result in the schools no longer accepting students with Cal Grants.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Zbur said rather than try again with allowing students at the schools to sue, this year's legislation will result in data showing if LGBT-based discrimination is a widespread concern at the religious colleges' campuses.

"We think this bill will reduce the number of times religious schools are expelling students," said Zbur. "We will also have a database on what is occurring. We think it will be more compelling when we have evidence it is widely occurring to circle back on the Cal Grants issue."

Another bill that revisits an issue addressed by previous legislation is AB 677, authored by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco). It would increase by 10 the number of state agencies required to collect class=st> data on sexual orientation and gender identity under his LGBT Disparities Reduction Act that was adopted in 2015.

The first group of four state agencies, mainly dealing with health services, must begin collecting the information by July 1, 2018. This year's bill would require state agencies that deal with education and employment issues to start collecting the LGBT data by July 1, 2019.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Senate Bill 219 - the Seniors Long Term Care Bill of Rights - will protect LGBT seniors from being discriminated against in long-term care facilities in the state. Author gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) modeled the bill after a similar policy that San Francisco officials adopted several years ago.

Wiener is also the author of SB 221, which would require all health insurance plans governed by California law to cover the medical treatment needed to correct for HIV-associated lipodystrophy, which creates abnormal accumulations of fat in a person's body, especially in the neck or upper back.

"Insurance classifies this as cosmetic surgery; that is wrong and it needs to change," Wiener told the B.A.R.