HR 21
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Date of Hearing: March 17, 2025
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Blanca Pacheco, Chair
HR 21 (Zbur) – As Introduced March 3, 2025
SUBJECT: Transgender Day of Visibility.
SUMMARY: Proclaims March 31, 2025, as Transgender Day of Visibility, and the week of
March 24, 2025, through March 28, 2025, as Transgender Week of Visibility in the Capitol.
Specifically, this resolution makes the following legislative findings:
1) The International Transgender Day of Visibility encompasses an expansive community of
people, including people who identify as Two-Spirit, transgender, gender nonconforming,
nonbinary, and/or intersex.
2) Originating from Indigenous communities of Turtle Island, the concept of “Two-Spirit”
denotes a unique cultural identity that includes various sexual orientation and gender
expressions, and intersects with Indigenous LGBTQ+ identities. The term Two-Spirit was
first articulated at the Third Annual Intertribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and
Lesbian Conference in Winnipeg in 1990.
3) Two-Spirit is used as an umbrella term and organizing tool to center the diversity of gender
identities and sexual orientation expressions, including LGBTQ+, within Indigenous
communities that have rich histories, predating European colonization.
4) Over one million Americans, including over 300,000 Californians, are Two-Spirit,
Transgender, Gender Nonconforming or Nonbinary, or Intersex (2STGI), and have overcome
significant hardships to build vibrant and thriving communities, often in the face of systemic
and interpersonal prejudice, discrimination, and violence.
5) While Transgender Day of Remembrance was established in 1999 to honor the transgender
community’s pain and memorialize transgender people we have lost due to transgender hate
and gender violence, the International Transgender Day of Visibility was subsequently
founded over a decade later to celebrate 2STGI people and center joy, hope, and 2STGI
identities.
6) Celebrating visibility must also come with a recognition that visibility and representation are
not substitutes for justice and 2STGI people, particularly 2STGI youth, transgender women
of color, individuals with transmasculine identities, and 2STGI refugees, immigrants, and
asylees continue to face profound threats to their safety and well-being.
7) While California is a leader in defending the rights and safety of 2STGI people, our state is
not immune to the national wave of transgender hate, violence, and political attacks.
California’s commitment to the 2STGI community is needed even more in the face of rising
extremism and hostility here and across the nation and globe.
8) California has become a safe haven for many 2STGI people across the United States, its
territories, and beyond, including for its access to health care and robust civil rights laws
allowing 2STGI people to live their authentic lives.
 HR 21
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FISCAL EFFECT: This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Michael Erke / RLS. / (916) 319-2800