Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has signed a bill into law that allows individuals to pick their “gender identity” before their incarceration in a men’s or women’s prison.
The law allows biological men who want to live as women to be housed with women prisoners and the same applies for women who want to live as men.
Fox News reported on how the law would be implemented:
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation houses men and women in separate facilities, and transgender inmates often are housed based on their biological sex. Advocates have argued that this is dangerous, particularly for transgender women housed in male facilities.
The law says officers must ask inmates privately during the intake process if they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. Those inmates can then request placement in a facility that houses either men or women.
The report further noted that under the law, the “California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation cannot deny requests solely because of inmates’ anatomy, sexual orientation, or ‘a factor present’ among other inmates at the facility.”
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