After Criticism, Newsom Urges Clearer Rules for Trans Girls in Sports

Gov. Gavin Newsom said state law needs to be changed to clarify when and how transgender women and girls compete in women’s sports.

That’s after criticism by LGBTQ+ advocates and members of his own party for comments made during a March podcast interview with Charlie Kirk, in which Newsom agreed with the late conservative activist that it was unfair for a trans teen girl to compete in a high school track and field competition.

When asked about his stance Friday on KQED’s Political Breakdown, Newsom touted his record of supporting bills protecting trans people, but said he has struggled to find a way to accommodate people’s concerns on this issue.

“I disagree with all the vitriol, but I agree on the issue of fairness in that respect, that it is unfair in these circumstances and I haven’t been able to reconcile it,” Newsom said.

Experts have said athletic ability varies greatly across gender, based on many factors not exclusive to sex assigned at birth. And scientific reviews, including one by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, show biomedical factors related to puberty do not predict athletic performance.

Newsom signed a bill into law Oct. 13 that requires the creation of a state commission to study inclusion in youth sports, including of trans youth. The commission has been alternately praised and criticized — while some Democrats have championed the study as a means to improve access for all children, regardless of gender identity, some advocates worry the commission could serve as a backdoor ban for trans kids.

For GOP legislators, the bill is seen as a means to oppose President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a blanket ban on transgender female athletes who compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

While Newsom has styled himself as a champion for LGBTQ+ rights, and as San Francisco mayor, engaged in civil disobedience to allow gay couples to marry at City Hall, his podcast interview with Kirk alienated many LGBTQ+ constituents, as the federal government and red states continue to chip away at hard-won progress.

“As health and LGBTQ advocates who have been bolstered by Governor Newsom’s past support, we feel profoundly betrayed and outraged by his remarks,” Dannie Ceseña, director of the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, said in a written statement after the episode was released. “Trust has been shattered.”

Still, months later, Newsom stood by his statements to Kirk.

“There’s some nuance here,” he told KQED. “And so I said what I thought. And you know what? I can’t tell you how many people have a similar point of view, but don’t say it publicly.”

Sports are critical for young people, Newsom added, saying that playing baseball and basketball growing up in Marin County are the reason he got to where he is now. For trans kids, he said, there should be distinctions between competitive and recreational sports.

“I don’t roll people under the bus, quite the contrary,” Newsom continued. “But when it comes to sports, that’s impacting other people’s rights.”

California’s high school athletics governing body follows 2013 state legislation that explicitly allows students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

But the California Interscholastic Federation altered its rules this summer for the state track and field meet, after backlash from Trump and conservatives. The CIF rule allowed an additional student to compete in the events a trans girl was competing in to try to find a middle ground in the political discourse.

The Trump administration is now suing the CIF and the state’s education department.

Newsom, who said he has a trans godson, said he has worked with experts to figure out a solution.

“It was an experience for me born over the actual application and responsibility as governor to try to figure this out, and I couldn’t,” he said. “And maybe other people can, but I haven’t been able to figure it out.”