San Francisco has for decades been a haven for LGBTQ+ people fleeing unaccepting families and conservative hometowns. But as the national political climate grows increasingly hostile to gay, lesbian, and trans people, city leaders expect more people to come in search of refuge.

In response, San Francisco officials are moving to codify the city’s long-standing role as a refuge for LGBTQ+ Americans, introducing legislation that would shield residents from being penalized for out-of-state convictions tied to gender-affirming care, abortion, or drag performance — an effort to counter a growing wave of laws criminalizing those activities elsewhere in the U.S.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood will introduce the proposal Tuesday in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission and Honey Mahogany, director of San Francisco’s Office of Transgender Initiatives. The measure would expand San Francisco’s Fair Chance Ordinance (opens in new tab), which limits employers from considering applicants’ criminal histories in hiring decisions.

Specifically, the measure forbids employers with five or more workers from asking applicants most questions about arrest and conviction records prior to making a conditional offer of employment. Additionally, job postings must include language that makes it clear that applicants with most types of criminal histories will be considered.

“More and more people will be coming to San Francisco and California to seek refuge and opportunity,” says Mahmood, who notes that in 2026 alone,some 13 state legislatures have enacted 28 anti-trans bills into law. “It’s time for our laws to ensure that quote-unquote crimes in other states will not be used against individuals here.”  

Indeed, the rollback of both LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights is intensifying. In the past three years, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing red states to ban most types of abortion, and upheld a Tennessee law criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

These judicial rulings have spurred conservative state legislatures to enact legislation that criminalizes certain aspects of medical care. For example, Texas’ anti-abortion legislation includes civil and criminal penalties (opens in new tab) for providers who terminate a pregnancy, as well as the pregnant person. 

“This legislation will clarify due-process protections for applicants, strengthen enforcement mechanisms — including clearer penalties — and expand remedies,” Mahmood says.

“We’re taking proactive steps so that when people are discriminated against, the discrimination doesn’t follow them here,” Mahogany adds.

It’s difficult to quantify the number of red-state refugees, but Mahogany estimates that 400,000 LGBTQ+ Americans may have already uprooted their lives in search of safety. Mutual aid organizations have sprung up in the community over the past year, with many providing relocation assistance (opens in new tab). And San Francisco isn’t the only major city preparing for a population influx. Seattle has received so many refugees (opens in new tab) that its city government is considering a state of emergency to grapple with the scale of the problem.