As trans people's lives become increasingly surveilled, having name change files sealed has become a critical matter of safety. (Photo by Kyle / Unsplash)
When Hazel Williams began the legal process of changing her gender marker and name last year, she stumbled across something that shocked her: such changes are part of the public record. If you’re looking for someone’s current name on your county’s Superior Court website, you can search for their former name and find it — and vice versa. Outside sites, like BeenVerified, aggregate court data, and as it spreads across the web, these records can pop up in Google searches.
Having such information easily available on the internet has never been without complication; everyone deserves privacy. But as trans people's lives become increasingly surveilled and restricted under the second Trump administration, having these files sealed has become a critical matter of safety. Such records, in the wrong hands, can be used to out people in the workplace, deny them healthcare, ban them from playing sports, and make them walking targets for harassment.
So Williams put her name and gender change paperwork on pause, and resolved to change the law to seal these records. Last year she met with LGBTQ organizations across the state, researched other privacy bills, and eventually presented a pitch to state Sen. Scott Wiener to see if he’d introduce legislation.
He bit, and over the past few months, SB 59, the Transgender Privacy Act, has flown through the assembly and senate. Now, the bill sits on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk, and sources I’ve spoken to tell me he’s expected to sign it. In a moment where every single aspect of trans existence is politicized, Newsom will no doubt capitalize on the bill as evidence that California is a leader in upholding trans rights and not capitulating to the nation’s authoritarian regime (despite his own spotty history on the subject).
“This type of bill is obviously incredibly helpful to minimize the likelihood of non-governmental bad actors trying to target, dox and harm trans people,” A.D. Lewis, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, told me this week. “This is part of an intense conversation around what Californians can do to make sure that the federal government doesn't use our courts to harm our community.”
But there’s one major hitch: the bill in front of Newsom is watered down. Yes, all future name and gender changes in the state will be sealed. However, the bill’s retroactivity portion — which would seal records for everyone in California who’s ever changed their name and gender marker — was gutted.
The retroactivity piece is estimated to cost $2 to 3 million in administrative fees, according to Erik Mebust, communications director for Wiener. “We’ve seen this problem in other contexts, most notably in cannabis possession charges. They don’t have the ability to press Ctrl+F delete, they have to pay people to do it.”
Old records can be sealed, but only if a person files a petition, and provides a compelling argument for its necessity in front of a judge, proving that they are at risk of harassment or violence. The irony here is that the petitions they would have to file to seal documents are also publicly searchable. That means that anyone fighting to seal their name and gender change documents could be creating an even longer paperwork trail, and courts across the states only approve sealing those petitions on a case-by-case basis.
It’s a lose-lose scenario, and a perfect example of backwards bureaucracy.
For Williams, the loss of retroactivity in the bill came as a huge blow. “Decision-makers in California have made it clear: our lives have a price tag, and it’s shockingly low,” she told me.
Now, lawyers across the state are scrambling to interpret the bill’s retroactivity language. Among them is Carla Lopez, the legal director for the LGBTQ+ program at California Rural Legal Assistance. This confidentiality is critical for the rural populations she serves.
“I’m thinking of trans and gender-diverse immigrants fleeing violence in their home countries because of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression,” she said. They could still be tracked down if people searched for their old name. “Eliminating those records really makes it difficult to do an online search to locate someone, because they won't be able to search for you using your deadname or your lived name.”
The bill’s passage will provide that added layer of security for people going forward. But for those who’ve already filed for name and gender changes, they’re going to have to study the law, hire lawyers, and take time off to go to court — the latter of which is a risky move for immigrants who could be kidnapped by ICE. “It’s such a legal conundrum that requires an attorney’s help,” Lopez said of the retroactive petitions. “I can’t imagine anyone doing this on their own.”
So how do we sit with this bill?
On the one hand, it’s a big victory. “As someone who has been personally targeted there's a great deal of relief I feel knowing this protection is available. It’s an important step towards protecting trans people from violence,” Williams said.
On the other hand, it fails to fully protect the tens of thousands of vulnerable trans and nonbinary people whose identities will remain publicly searchable.
There’s still work to be done. “It’s far from enough,” Williams said.
Nuala Bishari is an investigative journalist and opinion columnist who's reported on the Bay Area since 2013. She writes about public health, homelessness, LGBTQ+ issues, and nature.
