A new alliance of predominately transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex-led organizations has at the top of its agenda securing taxpayer dollars for a wellness fund created last year by California legislators.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2218 into law last September. The bill established the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund but the money for it was stripped from the final version.
The bill — intended to assist organizations serving people that identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, or intersex, and help create or fund TGI-specific housing programs and partnerships with hospitals, health care clinics and other medical providers to provide TGI-focused health care — did not look like it was going to pass at one point, due to its $15 million price tag at a time of budgetary concern prompted by to the COVID-19 pandemic.