  We give a new characterization of symplectic surfaces in CP^2 via bridge
trisections. Specifically, a minimal genus surface in CP^2 is smoothly isotopic
to a symplectic surface if and only if it is smoothly isotopic to a surface in
transverse bridge position. We discuss several potential applications,
including the classification of unit 2-knots, establishing the triviality of
Gluck twists, the symplectic isotopy problem, Auroux's proof that every
symplectic 4-manifold is a branched cover over CP^2, and the existence of
Weinstein trisections. The proof exploits a well-known connection between
symplectic surfaces and quasipositive factorizations of the full twist in the
braid group.
