Scoop: LGBTQ+ rights power picks fight with Trump

Politico

03-03-2025

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THE BUZZ — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: 'GLOVES ARE OFF' — Equality California, the state's top lobbying force on LGBTQ+ issues, will this year confront President Donald Trump with an agenda heavily focused on buttressing transgender rights.
The group will, in plans first reported here, push state lawmakers to require that courts more quickly allow transgender and nonbinary Californians to change the name and gender on their driver's licenses. Its other priorities include making court records of people's name and gender confidential and blocking law enforcement from accessing the state's prescription drug database without a warrant — an attempt to prevent discrimination against Californians receiving gender-affirming care.
The advocacy drive is a response to Trump's rescission of several rights previously afforded to transgender Americans. They can no longer get passports that list their gender — rather than their sex assigned at birth — or indicate that they are nonbinary with an 'X' in place of an 'M' or 'F' on the federal ID. The White House has also moved to bar transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams matching their gender, and banned federal employees from including their preferred gender pronouns in email signatures.
'With Donald Trump and his extremist administration waging unprecedented attacks on LGBTQ+ people — especially transgender people — the gloves are off in California when it comes to protecting the safety and civil rights of our community,' Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang told Playbook in a statement.
Equality California's legislative agenda will likely play an important role in shaping California's resistance to Trump on gender issues during his second term. The group's bill package typically overlaps heavily with that of the Legislature's LGBTQ Caucus, which is expected to unveil its own policy priorities in the coming days.
Members of that caucus are carrying almost every proposal Equality California is sponsoring. They include:
The package focuses on expanding state-controlled programs, potentially avoiding legal conflict with the federal government. The Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have already in recent years shown willingness to expand some of the same services, establishing benefits for workers helping their chosen families and expanding PrEP access.
'These bills are essential to ensuring California remains a national leader in LGBTQ+ equality while standing strong against the rising tide of hate and discrimination fueled by the Trump administration's cruel policies attacking transgender and nonbinary Americans,' Hoang said.
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WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
LOS ANGELES
REFORM PURGATORY — It's been more than six months, and LA Mayor Karen Bass still hasn't appointed members to a commission charged with changing the city's charter and preventing further corruption scandals at City Hall.
'The inaction from the mayor's office makes Bass the most conspicuous logjam in a process fraught with political tripwires, a reworking of the city's balance of power certain to face backlash from those who enjoy tremendous sway under the status quo,' our colleague Melanie Mason writes in her latest report from southern California.
The stalled reforms have already dashed confidence that sweeping changes will be made in wake of the leaked City Hall tapes that consumed the city's politics.
'The further we get from that moment of the tapes leaking, the harder it will be to … institute true reforms,' said city Councilmember Nithya Raman. 'We may have already missed that moment, frankly.'
NEWSOMLAND
GRAB YOUR RAKE — Newsom declared a state of emergency over wildfires on Saturday, suspending environmental rules to speed preventative brush clearing in what appeared to be an attempt to mollify a president who often instructs the state to rake its forests. The declaration, first reported by POLITICO, came as Newsom seeks nearly $40 billion in aid from Republicans in Washington to help LA recover from its deadly wildfires.
STATE CAPITOL
GETTING THE BOOT — Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas expelled some of the Legislature's most outspokenly critical Republicans from coveted committees and replaced them with moderate members of the GOP in a late Friday afternoon purge.
Rivas kicked firebrand freshman Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo off the chamber's Budget Committee. He also cut Elections Committee Vice Chair Bill Essayli from that panel.
The shakeup moved several hardliners from plum committees to low-profile panels such as Water, Parks and Wildlife where it will be more difficult to garner attention online. DeMaio, in particular, was having success turning confrontational exchanges with Newsom administration staffers over budget issues into viral clips on X.
'I think they lost their shit and realized, 'Oh my God, we've got to shut this guy down. We've got to shut him up. We can't have him asking these questions,'' DeMaio told Playbook.
Moderate Republicans including Assemblymember Phillip Chen and Laurie Davies received new assignments, and the GOP gained one committee seat in the shuffle while Democrats' maintained the same number.
The changes appeared punitive, mostly targeting Republicans who had been more aggressive in their questioning of Democratic staffers during initial hearings. State Senate and Assembly leaders frequently use their unilateral power over committee assignments to reward key allies and punish members for behavior they find undesirable.
Rivas' camp didn't cast the moves as retributive in a statement.
'The Speaker routinely addresses committee needs throughout the year, and his goal is always to ensure members are in optimal roles to collaborate effectively and deliver for Californians,' Rivas spokesperson Nick Miller said.
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
THESE ARE THE BRAKES — Trump has California's electric vehicle mandate on the ropes — and California car dealers are joining in. Read Friday's California Climate for more on what their opposition might mean for the state's nation-leading rules.
Top Talkers
ERASING DEI — USC deleted its website for its university-wide Office of Inclusion and Diversity after the Trump administration told schools to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the LA Times reports.
It also scrubbed several college and department-level DEI statements, renamed faculty positions and, in one case, removed online references to a scholarship for Black and Indigenous students amid the administration's threats to withhold funding from institutions over DEI efforts.
BASHING FROM BARSTOOL — Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tore into Newsom over his new podcast in an interview with Fox News Digital, calling him 'trash' and a 'slick politician.'
'They asked me to go on. I said, 'No,' because I just don't like the guy so much,' Portnoy said.
AROUND THE STATE
— Off-duty national park rangers held protests from Yosemite National Park to Muir Woods National Monument in protest of layoffs ordered by the Trump administration. (San Francisco Chronicle)
— Huntington Park is the latest California city to be rocked by political corruption allegations. (Los Angeles Times)
— Fresno swore in its first female chief of police, Mindy Casto. (Fresnoland)
PLAYBOOKERS
PEOPLE MOVES — Jacob Regalado joins Street Level Strategy as a vice president leading the Sacramento office. Regalado most recently served was a principal consultant to the Assembly Democratic Caucus and senior strategic adviser to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas.
BIRTHDAYS — Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (favorite cake: vanilla with chocolate frosting) … former Rep. Paul Cook … Stacey Reardon of Change Craft LLC …
BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): Assemblymember Rick Zbur … Nick Warshaw, associate attorney at Loeb & Loeb … Rep. Ami Bera … Sally Rosen Phillips … Levi Russell of Morgan Stanley … SF Chronicle's Joe Garofoli …
(was Saturday): Joshua Marin-Mora, field representative for Zbur … CalMatters reporter Nigel Duara … former LA City Councilmember Joel Wachs … former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner … Zev Garber, former president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew … Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber.
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