New Chosen Family Bill would Improve Equity for the California LGBTQ Community
Yvette Cervantes (near the middle, wearing black), is a chosen family member to LGBTQ individuals who have been unhoused.
Pandemic “pods” and “bubbles” are just a couple of ways we’ve all learned to adapt to this pandemic—relying on nearby friends and neighbors to support us during this turbulent time. For some of us, 2020 was the first time we had to lean on non-relatives to help us while dealing with an illness, or to have last-minute childcare to make it through one more day in the juggling act of working from home. Because of these pandemic-induced changes, the concept of chosen family has become more normalized in the past twelve months than it perhaps ever was before the COVID-19 crisis hit the U.S.
Chosen family is not a new concept, especially for those in the LGBTQ community. For over ten years, Yvette Cervantes, an Orange County resident, has been the chosen-adoptive mother to LGBTQ individuals who have been rejected and unhoused by their families. “There are many unsheltered individuals who have chosen to leave their homes due to violence and fear of their lives,” Yvette shared.
LGBTQ people found a safe place to live in Yvette’s home, where they were able to form a chosen family to give and receive emotional and tangible support to each other. “We have gone to the hospital with them, helped purchase gender affirming items like binders and clothing, provided medical items, school supplies, and hygiene products,” says Yvette.
“I am the main financial support for my family,” Yvette says, “...and missing work to help my chosen family is not possible due to financial reasons. I also cannot ask for time off to help those I love because of fear of losing my job.”
Hosting her first friendsgiving ten years ago, Yvette wanted to make sure that LGBTQ individuals had a place to celebrate this annual tradition with people who loved and cared for them. What started as a small gathering of about five or six friends has grown into a massive event of 300 people now hosted at The LGBTQ Center of Orange County.
Families like Yvette’s are not uncommon. Many LGBTQ individuals don’t have accessible relationships with their biological families, and these numbers are disproportionately worse for older LGBTQ adults. Additionally, an analysis of 2020 Census Bureau data shows that only 18.4 percent of American households have the traditional nuclear family structure, meaning a growing majority of American households are made up of a chosen family structure.
Chosen family provides many people with an emotional and tangible support system; however, when someone is seriously ill or needs long-term care, providing support to a chosen family member proves more challenging. California’s current Paid Sick and Family Leave laws only allow an individual to take paid leave for a biological or legally related family member. So what happens to families like Yvette’s whose chosen family are not recognized by California’s paid leave laws?
“I am the main financial support for my family,” Yvette says, “...and missing work to help my chosen family is not possible due to financial reasons. I also cannot ask for time off to help those I love because of fear of losing my job.”
Yvette Cervantes (back, left) is advocating with LGBTQ community members at the OC Trans Pride event.
This is a reality many people in chosen families face. California has the fourth largest LGBTQ population in the U.S, but because of the narrow definition of family in our paid leave laws, roughly 37 percent of LGBTQ workers do not have the right to use the paid leave programs they are entitled to as taxpayers and employees because of the traditional definition of family in the law. This disparity is greater for LGBTQ people with disabilities — 43 percent report not having access to paid family leave or paid sick leave.
“People from all over California are speaking up about how important AB 1041 is. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that legislators hear their voices.”
The California legislature has the opportunity to address these inequities in this year’s legislative session. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks proposed legislation (AB 1041) that would adapt the definition of family in California’s Paid Sick and Safe Days and California Family Rights Act laws to include chosen family.
Many organizations, advocates, and everyday working people are supporting this bill; however, on the other side of this broad support is the California Chamber of Commerce — a well-funded organization allocating resources and lobbyists to oppose this bill and influence legislators to vote against it.
However, even with this opposition, Wicks’ Chosen Family bill successfully made it through the first hearing of the legislative session. ACLU staff attorney, Aditi Fruitwala, testified in support of the Chosen Family bill during this hearing stating, “The U.S. government, six states, and eight localities, including Los Angeles, have already adopted an expansive definition of ‘family’ in their leave laws. Once a leader in LGBTQ rights, California now lags behind.”
The April 8th victory of passing through the Assembly Labor Committee however isn’t causing advocates to gain false confidence. “Powerful forces in our state are opposed to this bill, but we know how critically important it is that our leave laws reflect what California families look like,” says California Work & Family Coalition Political Organizing Director, Katie Waters-Smith. “People from all over California are speaking up about how important AB 1041 is. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that legislators hear their voices.”
Should Assembly Bill 1041 get passed into law, LGBTQ people whose care is provided by chosen family will be impacted. Hopefully, when Yvette hosts her next annual Friendsgiving for LGBTQ community members, she and her chosen family will have peace of mind knowing that they can use their caregiving leave for the people they have chosen to call family.
This article was written by The California Work & Family Coalition. To advocate for the Chosen Family Bill with the Coalition, go to bit.ly/ChosenFamilyCA.
