California's Gender Recognition Act (SB 179)

The Gender Recognition Act (California Senate Bill 179) was signed into law and went into full effect January 1st, 2019. In brief, SB 179 streamlines the process for Californians to apply to change their gender markers, and creates a nonbinary gender category on California birth certificates, drivers' licenses, identity cards, and gender-change court orders (the letter "x"). This enables many in our community, including transgender, intersex and nonbinary people, to have full recognition in the State of California. The law was authored by Sens. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by Equality California and the ;Transgender Law Center.

In 2018, UCSF commissioned the SB 179 Task Force with the charge to advise divisions, units and departments preparing for an additional gender category in alignment with SB 179. The task force assisted the campus in making strategic, systemic changes to ensure inclusion of transgender, nonbinary and intersex people and identify obstacles.

The accomplishments of the SB 179 Task Force paved the way for the Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy implementation.

UC Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy

Across the University of California, students, staff and faculty have advocated for changes to make UC more equitable and inclusive. In November 2020, President Michael V. Drake, M.D., announced a new presidential policy to ensure that all individuals are identified by their accurate gender identity and lived or preferred name on university-issued documents and in UC’s information systems. Read the announcement here.