page_title: LGBT rights in California
section_title: History and legality of same-sex sexual activity
hierarchical_section_title: LGBT rights in California / History and legality of same-sex sexual activity
caption_attribution_description: English: Harvey Milk filling in for Mayor Moscone for a day March 7, 1978 Русский: Харви Милк за столом мэра Сан-Франциско Джорджа Москоне, 7 марта 1978 года.
context_page_description: California is seen as one of the most liberal states in the U.S. in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender rights, which have received nationwide recognition since the 1970s. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the state since 1976. Discrimination protections regarding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression were adopted statewide in 2003. Transgender people are also permitted to change their legal gender on official documents without any medical interventions, and mental health providers are prohibited from engaging in conversion therapy on minors.
  California became the first state in the U.S. to legalize domestic partnerships between same-sex couples in 1999. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2008 for five months until voters approved a ban in November of the same year. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to recognize the legal standing of same-sex marriage opponents on June 26, 2013, the ban was no longer enforceable, allowing same-sex marriages to recommence starting on June 28. Same-sex adoption has also been legal statewide since 2003, permitting stepchild adoption and joint adoption between same-sex couples.
context_section_description: Prior to European settlement and colonization in the 18th century, numerous Native American groups lived in the region. Among these, many recognize a "third gender" role in their societies (nowadays also called "two-spirit"). Male-bodied individuals who behave and act as women and perform typically feminine tasks are known as yaawa among the Atsugewi, kwit or cuit among the Luiseño, tüdayapi among the Northern Paiute, clele among the Wailaki, 'aqi among the Chumash, wergern among the Yurok, and í-wa-musp among the Yuki people. Female-to-male individuals are known as brumaiwi among the Astugewi and musp-íwap náip among the Yuki. Similarly, among the Nomlaki and the Klamath and Modoc peoples, respectively, walusa and t'winiːq individuals form a "third gender" alongside male and female. The Yokuts recognize similar terms. In the Kings River Yokuts language, it is tonoo'tcim, whereas it is tonocim in the Palewyami language. There were no known legal or social punishments for engaging in homosexual activity in these societies.
  Sodomy laws were first enacted during the Spanish period. The general openness or indifference towards homosexuality quickly disappeared with the arrival of Christianity, which has traditionally regarded homosexuality as sinful. In 1850, shortly after having joined the United States, California adopted a criminal code prohibiting sodomy, both heterosexual and homosexual, with 1 to 14 years' imprisonment. Over the following years, numerous people were convicted of sodomy, and the state law was amended to include fellatio (oral sex) and cunnilingus in 1915.
  In 1909, California passed a law providing for the possible sterilization of "moral or sexual perverts". By 1948, 19,042 people had been sterilized under the law. In 1950, the state Attorney General issued an opinion that sterilization of inmates for reasons other than therapeutic was probably unconstitutional. At that time, California accounted for the most sterilization cases of any state, having more than all states combined. In 1951, the law was amended to remove "perversion" as a ground for sterilization. 
  From the mid-20th century onwards, debate surrounding the sodomy law became increasingly more mainstream. A bill was introduced in 1975 to repeal the state's sodomy statute.
  In 1972 and 1974, California voters opted to amend the State Constitution's Declaration of Rights to include "inalienable rights" such as "life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy." A consenting adult law for residents over 18 years old, which restricted existing laws on sodomy or oral copulation for same-sex or opposite-sex couples to genuinely criminal instances alone, was passed in May 1975 and took effect the following year.
  However, a discrepancy involving the age of consent exists under Californian law. The law states that if an adult is convicted of consensual vaginal intercourse with a minor between the age of 14 and 17, and if the adult is within 10 years of the minor, the judge can decide whether the person should be listed on the sex offender registry. On the other hand, if a gay man has consensual sex with a minor, 14 to 17, the law states that he must be placed on the sex offender list regardless. In September 2019, a bill to rectify this unequal treatment was blocked in the California Assembly by Lorena Gonzalez. In August 2020, state Senator Scott Wiener wants to immediately close this legal loophole within California law - that explicitly discriminates against LGBT minorities and certain individuals within the community are abusing and harassing him with death threats and accusations of pedophilia.
  In February 2020, the black and LGBT civil rights activist Bayard Rustin was posthumously pardoned by Governor Gavin Newsom. California is currently considering a law to pardon gay and bisexual men convicted under the state's historical anti-gay law, similar to the UK's Alan Turing law.
caption: Harvey Milk was one of the earliest known LGBT activists in California and the United States, and the first LGBT elected official in the state.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Photo by Daniel Nicoletta\nHarvey Milk as Mayor for a Day\nMarch 7, 1978\nWhen Harvey was acting mayor for one of the days that Mayor George Moscone had to be out of town, it was like the marx brothers in the mayors office..  when I can in to photograph harvey that day i was greeted by harvey with an option of recieving any commission my heart desired, and in the background Jim Rivaldo some other friends Harvey's were having fun playing with the mayors paper shredding machine which was built into his huge wooden desk.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:29 06:59:43", "Image Artist": "Photo by Daniel Nicoletta", "Image Copyright": "\u00a9 1978 by Daniel Nicoletta, 415.6655930 or dannic@covad.net \nAll Rights reserved", "Image ExifOffset": "828", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "966", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5453", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "300", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "240"}