Assembly Member Miguel Santiago and CA TGI Policy Alliance Honor Trans Day of Visibility

(Sacramento, CA) – Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day which recognizes the accomplishments of transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex (TGI) people while raising awareness of the work that still needs to be done to achieve full equality, especially in the realm of healthcare. TGI people are often left out of conversations regarding medical and mental healthcare and, according to a 2015 study, 33 percent of transgender people report having at least one negative experience while seeking healthcare related to being transgender.

“All of us deserve equal healthcare access regardless of gender identity,” said Assembly Member Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles). “California’s TGI community is facing obstacles in receiving safe, non-discriminatory, comprehensive care and we must change that. This is why we created in California the first-of-its-kind Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund to provide TGI-serving organizations the means to create their own programs where they can provide safe, competent, and TGI-inclusive healthcare, mental health services and other social services.”

"The TWEF is a historic investment in TGI communities, funding life-saving culturally competent care for communities that have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the California TGI Policy Alliance. “The funding will support the expansion of healthcare that is safe for TGI people to access and that meets our communities’ needs, which will improve health outcomes for TGI folks statewide."

To address the inequities faced by TGI people in healthcare, Assembly Member Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles)authored AB 2218 in 2020 with the California TGI Policy Alliance. AB 2218 created the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund (TWEF) to provide mental health, medical and direct supportive services to TGI individuals. In 2021, $13 million was allocated to the TWEF to fund these services. This year, he is authoring AB 2521 (Santiago) to rename the TWEF to the “TGI Wellness and Equity Fund” to accurately represent the transgender, gender nonconforming and/or intersex individuals that the Fund will serve and to create an advisory committee for the TWEF. The advisory committee will consists of TGI leaders in order to give TGI community members a stronger voice in how the funds are allocated. Additionally, Assembly Member Santiago is submitting a budget request to annually fund the TWEF.

Assembly Member Miguel Santiago is the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization and Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Los Angeles County Homelessness. He also sits on the Assembly Committees on Public Safety, Health, Higher Education and Utilities and Energy. He represents the 53rd District composed of the cities of Los Angeles, Huntington Park, and Vernon.