Were there any specific laws or bills passed throughout the early 1970s that protected gay rights in California and/or the West Coast?

The answer to your question is yes; however, most of the laws that were passed were specific to certain states.

For example, the state of California passed a consenting adults law on May 2, 1975. The bill was named after San Francisco assemblyman Willie Brown. Passage of the bill allowed for consensual sex between adults of all varieties of sexual inclinations. The new law took effect on January 1, 1976. Here is a link documenting the Consenting Adults Act of 1975 in California.

Prior to this, San Francisco had already passed a homosexual rights ordinance in 1972. The ordinance prohibited discrimination against the LGBTQ community in the area of employment in the city of San Francisco. In 1978, another ordinance was passed; this time, the law prohibited discrimination against the LGBTQ community in the area of employment and housing in the private sector. Here's a timeline of gay rights history in the 1970s in San Francisco.

In Washington state, Seattle passed an ordinance prohibiting employment and housing discrimination against gays in 1973. That same year, the City Council in Berkeley, California, prohibited companies that engaged in business with the city from discriminating against the LGBTQ community.

In 1973, congressional representatives in Oregon voted on House Bill 2930 which prohibited discrimination against homosexuals in the area of employment. However, it didn't garner enough votes and wasn't passed. However, a 1974 ordinance that prohibited discrimination against homosexuals in municipal employment passed in Portland, Oregon. Also, anti-sodomy laws that criminalized homosexual behavior were repealed in Washington, California, and Oregon in the 1970s.