California Republicans Cite Gavin Newsom In Trans Athlete Ban Hearing

Newsom has denounced what he calls the GOP’s “weaponization” of trans issues, but this evidently hasn’t stopped him from using it as a tool himself.

Source: California legislative broadcasting

These days, you might know Gavin Newsom as the latest Bay Area white guy to start a podcast. In his spare time, however, he’s the Governor of California.

In both of these capacities, the historically LGBT-friendly lawmaker has arguably been taking steps, if not leaps and bounds, towards a more reactionary, hostile political line. Anti-trans lawmakers and activists have taken notice, and it’s emboldened them to push their gender extremist agenda onto the masses of one of the country’s most liberal states.

Last month, Newsom came under fire for hosting far-right extremist Charlie Kirk on an episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” where he said he “completely aligns” with some of Kirk’s views on trans athletes. This week, the Governor was cited no fewer than eight times by anti-trans lawmakers and advocates in a committee hearing on California’s sports bills. If passed, the laws would require schools and the state’s governing sports body to discriminate against transgender athletes.

The bills died in committee, but the exhaustive debate and public comment provided key insight into the way that the Governor, in his conversations platforming extremists like Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, and Michael Savage, has given their acolytes a greenlight to target trans people — whether he meant to or not.

Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Republican sponsor of the anti-trans A.B. 89, stated that “even Governor Newsom” regarded anti-trans sports bills as a matter of “fairness.’”

Charlotte Johnson, who simply self-identified as “a mom,” told Democrats and Republicans alike to “take the off-ramp that Governor Newsom gave you” with these bills.

Annelise Nistor, representing a far-right group called “We the People” (not to be confused with the civic education organization of the same name) said,“Just as Governor Newsom, I support Bill 844.” She called trans girls “predators” trying to infiltrate women’s locker rooms.

Well-known extremist groups such as Moms for Liberty and Gays Against Groomers also showed up to support the bills.

Newsom has expressed sympathy for trans athletes and denounced what he calls the GOP’s “weaponization” of trans issues, but this evidently hasn’t stopped him from using it as a tool himself. Some speculate his recent comments are part of a broader push for the 2028 presidential nominee; that in targeting trans athletes, Newsom may be courting centrist voters that think the left has gone “too far” on trans rights.

Newsom ardently denies that his comments were “some grand design,” and that he really is just concerned about student athletes. And it is possible that the right’s brazen, strategic rebranding of anti-trans hate as “fairness” simply resonated with Newsom, too. But as Erin in the Morning previously reported, anti-LGBT zealots have been open about their efforts to manufacture a crisis out of the existence of trans athletes. The goal is, and always has been, to dismantle all LGBT protections, overturn same-sex marriage, and turn America into (even more of) a far-right Christian theocracy.

Nevertheless, in a March interview with Bill Maher, the Governor compared constituent backlash to cancel culture. “You wanna cancel someone who’s been with you on almost every central issue, at every critical junket, for decades,” he said, describing Democrats and LGBTQ activists to Maher. (He also denounced “cancel culture” from the Republican Party, such as book banning, censorship, and attacks on corporate speech.)

A spokesperson for Newsom declined to comment on the recent proposals, telling Erin in the Morning that the Governor does not typically speak on bills that don’t make it out of committee. Meanwhile, Newsom told reporters at a press conference that he “wasn’t paying attention” to the committee happenings that day, as he was busy discussing fire recovery efforts with his team. Wildfires decimated the state earlier this year.

Newsom’s apparent anti-trans streak is not just rhetorical; he’s also reportedly been trying to suppress LGBT-friendly bills behind the scenes.

If that is the case, it certainly hasn’t worked. Newsom’s own Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis sent a representative from her office to the committee hearing to oppose Bills 844 and 89. So did the state Board of Education’s Superintendent Tony Thurmond. And Committee Chair Christopher Ward, a Democrat — who is also the Chair of California’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus — tore into the bill’s supposed moral and biological premise.

“It creates more harm for all,” Ward said. “Transgender and cisgender alike.” He called out the policies across the country — such as in Texas, where Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the NCAA to mandate chromosomal testing for athletes, or Utah, where a school board member doxxed a student athlete presumed (incorrectly) to be trans, resulting in the 16-year-old and her entire school needing police protection.

“I’d argue that because of the sensationalizing of this issue, similar threats have caused incidents requiring a public safety response at our schools,” Ward said. “This hysteria needs to stop.”