California school districts would be required to update their records to reflect the names and genders of graduates who have changed them since getting their diplomas under a bill approved by state lawmakers on Thursday.
The measure lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom is intended to particularly help transgender graduates or those who identify themselves as having no gender, said San Francisco Assemblyman David Chiu, co-author of AB 711.
Those graduates already often face discrimination and their efforts to find jobs can be affected if their student records don’t reflect their legal name, he said.
Old records can also inadvertently reveal that a graduate is transgender when they have not otherwise made their transition public.
California law protects current transgender students from discrimination, but Chiu said some schools have been reluctant to issue new diplomas to graduates who have transitioned or come out as transgender or nonbinary after leaving school.
His bill requires school districts to update those former students’ diplomas, GEDs or transcripts upon request. That would include changing all references to the graduate’s previous name or gender.
