California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s LGBTQ+ record is extensive. Not only has he served as a California State Assembly member, a U.S. House representative, California’s attorney general, and the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, but he has loudly stood up for queer rights every step of the way (even battling the current administration’s nonstop attacks on LGBTQ+ youth and civil rights).
Becerra is facing Republican Steve Hilton in the November race to become California’s next governor, and even though he’s leading him in the polls, the result isn’t a foregone conclusion. California is a blue state that has elected a Democratic governor for the last 15 years, but its voters have also elected Republicans into the office numerous times in the past. Here’s what state voters should know about Becerra’s LGBTQ+ support leading into the November election.
Xavier Becerra at a glance
- Location: Los Angeles, California
- Position sought: Governor of California
- Current position: Attorney
- Party affiliation: Democrat
- Race/ethnicity: Latin American
- Gender identity: Cisgender male
- Sexual orientation: Heterosexual
- LGBTQ+ ally: Yes
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Biography
The son of Mexican immigrants, Becerra was born on January 26, 1958, in Sacramento, California. He became the first member of his family to graduate from college when he earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Stanford University in 1980.
He got his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1984 and began working on cases involving individuals with mental disorders for the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts. He then served as a deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice from 1987 to 1990.
He was elected to California’s State Assembly and served from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. House and won re-election until he left in 2017 to become the Attorney General of California, a position he served in untl 2021. During his time there, he delivered the Democratic Spanish-language response to President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address, filed 122 lawsuits against the administration, and was regularly criticized for opposing the public release of evidence of criminal wrongdoing by police.
Becerra served as US Secretary of Health and Human Services under then-President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. On April 2, 2025, Becerra declared his campaign to become California’s next governor.
Xavier Becerra’s LGBTQ+ views
Equality California said in 2017 that Becerra has demonstrated “a 100% record of commitment and advocacy for the LGBTQ community.” That record seems to have stayed consistent over the last decade. In fact, while serving as Biden’s health secretary, right-wing figures criticized Becerra for being too pro-LGBTQ+.
Same-sex marriage
During his time in the U.S. House, Becerra was one of the earliest Congress members to publicly support marriage equality. (At a time most Democrats only supported the expansion of domestic partnership protections for same-sex couples.) He was also one of only 67 of the House’s 435 Members who voted against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, a law which denied federal recognition of any legally married same-sex couples.
He signed the amicus brief in the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor, which struck down Section 3 of the DOMA, a provision defining marriage under federal law as strictly a union between one man and one woman.
He also signed the March 6, 2015 congressional amicus brief in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court case that eventually legalized same-sex marriage nationwide; in the brief, he was one of 167 House members and 44 senators who urged the Court to require all states to license and recognize same-sex marriages.
“Don’t Say Gay” laws/LGBTQ+ discussions in schools
In general, Becerra has stood up for the rights of LGBTQ+ students in general, stating in 2024, “Stand up against discrimination, especially when it comes to transgender kids. There is no room for people being bullied for who they are. It’s on all of us to teach the next generations love, not hate.”
After Florida passed its so-called Parental Rights in Education Act (otherwise known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which restricted LGBTQ+ instruction in public schools) and Texas referred to gender-affirming care as a form of “child abuse,” then-Health Secretary Becerra issued a statement: “HHS is committed to protecting young Americans who are targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and supporting their parents, caretakers and families.”
Trans bathroom bills
In November 2019, Becerra joined an amicus brief for the U.S. Supreme Court case (Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board) in which he supported a transgender student’s right to use the restroom matching his gender identity, stating, “Policies that stigmatize students for who they are have no place in our society or in our schools… We’ll keep fighting for the rights of transgender Americans across the country.”
In June 2017, he criticized the Trump administration’s rollback of federal guidance protecting trans students, including their right to use restrooms and facilities matching their gender identity, saying, “This is yet another signal that the Trump Administration is turning its back on our young people, especially those in the LGBTQ community
In April 2017, Becerra kept North Carolina on California’s restricted-travel list even after the state passed H.B. 142, which repealed the original bathroom bill but still barred local anti-discrimination protections.
Becerra stated, “Discrimination is unacceptable and we intend to protect LGBT rights. California’s law was enacted to ensure that, with limited exceptions, our taxpayer resources are not spent in states that authorize discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. North Carolina’s new law does not cure the infirmity of this type of discrimination.”
Trans children in sports
In April 2025, he said that bodies overseeing state athletic participation in school sports should be primarily responsible for establishing policies on trans participation in academic sports programs.
“Does the sports federation, does the school district say it’s possible? If they say it’s possible, that means the community has said yes,” he said, according to NBC Los Angeles. He also framed anti-trans bills as a right-wing distraction, noting, “There are probably more Americans getting hit by lightning than trans Americans wanting to play in girls’ sports.”
Gender-affirming care for minors
In his campaign for governor, Becerra has pledged to keep California a “sanctuary state for trans youth and their families,” preventing out-of-state investigations into individuals and healthcare providers who help minors obtain gender-affirming medical care.
In his 2024 statement observing the Transgender Day of Visibility, Becerra said, “Gender-affirming care saves lives. When trans Americans go to the doctor, they deserve the same treatment as any other patient. Stand up against discrimination, especially when it comes to transgender kids. There is no room for people being bullied for who they are.
In April 2023, then-Secretary Becerra issued a statement on Missouri’s emergency regulation restricting access to gender-affirming care for youth, stating, “To date, we have seen at least a dozen states take steps to restrict access to gender-affirming treatment, primarily targeting trans youth, their families and caretakers, and their health care providers. These actions strip parents and guardians of their ability to make the most intimate of decisions and interfere with the independent medical judgment of health care providers. Most tragically, these actions send a message to our trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming youth that partisan politics matters more than their mental or physical health.”
Conversion therapy
As health secretary, Becerra’s department launched the FindSupport.gov resource page, which included guidance on how to avoid and deal with “harmful approaches like ‘conversion therapy.’”
As California’s attorney general, Becerra oversaw an office that operated under California’s S.B. 1172, the nation’s first state law banning conversion therapy for minors, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in 2012.
Discrimination protections
Becerra was an original co-sponsor of the Equality Act, legislation to enshrine LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections into the 1964 Civil Rights Act, when it was first introduced in the U.S. House on July 23, 2015.
As health secretary, Becerra implemented new rules requiring foster care agencies to consider whether prospective families will affirm a child’s LGBTQ+ identity when deciding child placement.
In 2021, Becerra reinstated a guidance to end anti-LGBTQ+ healthcare discrimination nationwide.
“Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,“ he said. “Everyone – including LGBTQ people – should be able to access healthcare, free from discrimination or interference, period.”
In September 2020, Becerra condemned a Trump administration proposal that would have allowed homeless shelters to deny access based on subjective perceptions of sex rather than gender identity.
That same year, he also filed comment letters opposing a federal proposal that would let schools and healthcare providers discriminate against LGBTQ+ students based on administrators’ moral beliefs, stating, “There’s no excuse for discrimination against patients or students, including denying lifesaving referrals or educational programs that help students thrive.”
When serving as California State attorney general, Becerra announced that California would no longer spend state funds on travel to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws. However, this pledge was criticized as a
“stunt” and later dropped for its costs.
Becerra was a co-plaintiff in Stockman v. Trump, a case seeking to protect the rights of trans individuals currently serving in or seeking to join the U.S. military. He also joined a multistate brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the rights of LGBTQ+ workers in a series of cases that eventually declared anti-LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination as a violation of federal law.
Xavier Becerra’s career
- First of his family to graduate college: Bachelor of Arts in economics from Stanford University in 1980.
- Started his legal career with Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1984 and later serving as a deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice from 1987 to 1990.
- Served in California’s State Assembly from 1990 to 1992
- Served in US House from 1993 until 2017
- Served as California’s Attorney General from 2017 until 2021.
- Appointed as U.S. Secretary of Health under Biden. Served from 2021 to 2025.
- Announced California gubernatorial campaign on April 2, 2025.
Xavier Becerra’s LGBTQ+ record is TK TK
Becerra’s LGBTQ+ rights record is extensive enough for voters (and the queer community at large) to trust that he’ll continue being a strong ally, especially against Republican attacks against LGBTQ+ children and our community’s overall rights.
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