In summary
In the first episode of his new podcast, the governor said it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, breaking with the Democratic Party. Republican lawmakers called on him to support a ban on transgender athletes in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports today — a notable change in his position that thrust the Democratic governor into the center of a national maelstrom. It was unclear whether he will act on his new position as Republicans urged him to follow conservative states in banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
The comments came on the first episode of Newsom’s new podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom,” on which the governor has said he plans to interview political figures he disagrees with about the major issues of the day. In a chummy conversation with Charlie Kirk, the Donald Trump-aligned conservative activist, Newsom repeatedly conceded to criticisms of a transgender high school track athlete who recently won a regional meet.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair,” he said. “I’m not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”
“It is an issue of fairness … I totally agree with you.”
Gov. Gavin newsom in conversation with conservative charlie kirk
Newsom — who has positioned himself as a staunch LGBTQ+ ally since he married same-sex couples as mayor of San Francisco in 2004 — cited his two daughters and his wife, who played soccer at Stanford University, as well as complaints from friends and his history as a baseball player, as informing his thinking.
“I revere sports. And so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said. The governor noted that California passed a law in 2013 allowing students to use bathrooms and participate on sports teams based on the gender they identify with, but he did not propose any modifications.
“There’s also a humility and a grace, that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression,” Newsom told Kirk. “So both things I can hold in my hand. How can we address this issue with the kind of decency that I think is inherent in you but not always expressed on the issue, but at the same time deal with the unfairness?”
Allies were angered by Newsom’s comments, which break with the mainstream Democratic Party position supporting transgender athletes, with some arguing that he was abandoning transgender youth at the same time they face a wave of laws nationwide rolling back their rights.
“In this moment of crisis, they need leaders who will unequivocally fight for them,” Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, the state’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a lengthy statement. “Instead of standing strong, the Governor has added to the heartbreak and fear caused by the relentless barrage of hate from the Trump Administration.”
Meanwhile, two Republican state lawmakers who have introduced bills that would prevent transgender women and girls from competing in California publicly called on the governor to back their efforts.
“I hope that we’re able to come to an agreement and he sees that, because he has daughters…protecting the integrity and safety of our women and girls in sports is of utmost concern,” said Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Rancho Santa Margarita Republican carrying a bill that would ban any student who is born male from competing on a girls’ sports team. “I’m encouraged that the governor has recognized that, and I look forward to the future and our future conversations with him.”
Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story.
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon refused to say whether the governor would support the measures, writing in an email that “our office does not typically comment on pending legislation.”
Sometimes the governor does get out ahead of bills on hot-button topics, including last month, when he vowed to veto legislation to further restrict collaboration between California and federal immigration authorities.
Democrats in the U.S. Senate this week blocked a bill that would have banned transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports nationwide, while Maine Gov. Janet Mills publicly sparred with Trump over the issue in the Oval Office last month. Even Democratic leaders in some red and purple states, such as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, have continued to stand behind transgender athletes as the national controversy grows more intense.
Newsom has never been the foremost voice on the issue. But he presents himself as a staunch advocate for transgender people and has previously made supportive statements about transgender athletes, including criticizing Tennessee in 2022 for pulling funding from schools that allow transgender students to play sports.
In declaring the Transgender Day of Remembrance in November, Newsom said in a statement that transgender people face unacceptable violence and discrimination “simply for existing.”
“In the face of deplorable anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and a rising tide of intolerance, it is critical that we take a stand against the forces of hate seeking to dehumanize people and harm our communities,” he said then.
If he does seek to ban or limit the participation of transgender athletes in California, Newsom will likely encounter stiff resistance in the Legislature, which is dominated by a supermajority of Democrats. Some spoke out against the governor’s comments in unusually critical terms today.
“We woke up incredibly sickened and disappointed, because somebody who’s been a consistent ally of our community made these remarks,” Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat who leads the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said in an interview. “I know that he knows that until Donald Trump began obsessing about this issue, it actually hasn’t been a problem in California.”
“Until Donald Trump began obsessing about this issue, it hasn’t actually been a problem in California.”
san diego democrat chris ward
Trump centered opposition to transgender rights in his successful presidential campaign last year and, in one of the early actions of his second term, signed an executive order last month meant to remove transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports.
Ward said Newsom was playing into Trump’s efforts to create a distraction as he dismantles the federal government and urged the governor to consider the academic and health benefits of playing youth sports for transgender kids, who make up a small fraction of the student body in California.
Though Newsom has signed bills expanding transgender rights in California during his governorship, including one making the state a refuge for transgender health care, his rejection of some of their political priorities has fomented a rising tension with the LGBTQ+ community. Newsom initially resisted efforts to prohibit schools from requiring parental notification when a student changes their gender identity. He vetoed measures to require that judges consider a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity in custody disputes and to expedite licensure for transgender health care providers.
“I still have faith in his allyship and I would hope that he would continue to have conversations with us as legislative leaders if his positions are going to vary,” Ward said.
The conservative response to Newsom was not unanimously positive. Some critics lambasted the governor for merely trying to appear more centrist as he potentially maneuvers to run for president in 2028.
“It’s all empty rhetoric,” Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a Corona Republican who is carrying a bill to reverse California’s 2013 law on school facilities and programs for transgender students, said in an interview.
He said if Newsom truly thought it was unfair for transgender athletes to play school sports, he would sign an executive order aligning with Trump’s.
“It’s just political posturing and pandering,” Essayli said, “and I think that’s what the governor does best.”
