Health & Saf. Code, § 102935

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) There is a lack of understanding about the relationship between risk of violent death, such as suicide or homicide, and an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity. This is because, unlike veteran status or ethnicity, the sexual orientation and gender identity of deceased individuals are only captured in special circumstances. By training coroners and medical examiners how to gather mortality data with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity, researchers and policymakers can begin to learn who the most vulnerable in the LGBTQ community are, and allocate resources that will reduce the number of preventable deaths.

(b) The State Department of Public Health maintains statewide vital statistics data, including records of births, deaths, and marriages. The department administers the state’s electronic death registration system. Sexual orientation and gender identity data is not currently collected in that information.

(c) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to create a pilot program under which coroners and medical examiners are trained to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data in all cases of violent death, in order to encourage a better understanding of disparities in the mortality rate in the LGBTQ community and to assist the development of policies to address those disparities at the county level.