Sacramento – California Governor Gavin Newsom – A champion in the publication of LGBTQ + rights since he was mayor of San Francisco – called on Thursday the participation of transgender athletes in “deeply unfair” female sports in his new podcast, separating from his party on a problem on which the Republicans capitalized in the presidential election.
The Democratic Governor made these comments during the first episode of his new program, “This is Gavin Newsom”, in which he sat for a 70 -minute conversation with the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, a faithful supporter of President Trump and the right -wing opponent of homosexual marriage.
Kirk raised the issue of transgender athletes as one of the many areas where democrats were disconnected from most Americans and said it was unfair to allow people born as a biological man to compete with women.
“The question of equity is completely legitimate, so I align myself completely with you, and we must have it,” said Newsom. “We have to recognize it.”
From the start, the governor billed his podcast as presenting conversations with “some of the biggest leaders and architects of the Maga Movement”. In the initial episode, Newsom widely listened to Kirk’s dissection on the presidential election and the vulnerabilities of the Democratic Party which allowed the Republicans to take control of the White House and Congress.
Newsom, who shared his own criticism from his party, spent more time accepting the right figure and offering his appreciation for his point of view than debating their opposite opinions. The approach is aligned with the Governor’s recent retirement of his role in the elections as a fighter for democratic values and a better critic of the GOP while he seeks to maintain a respectful relationship with Trump.
Gar Culbert, professor of political science at Cal State Los Angeles, said that Newsom’s comments suggest that he “certainly tests the waters” for a future presidential race when he begins to divorce himself from his liberal character from California and to stimulate his national potential by appearing more common.
“He has a lot of time by a possible campaign in 2028 and California is not the constituency he must use more,” said Culbert.
Newsom’s comments on transgender athletes aroused rapid criticism from other Democrats, who considered his agreement with Kirk as the abandonment of a small vulnerable community already attacked by the Republicans.
“It is devastating and depressing, in particular from a governor who was such a courageous ally of our community,” said Senator of the State Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).
During the Podcast, Kirk underlined the case of Ab Hernandez, an athlete from the Transgenere Lycée in California, as well as the San Jose State women’s volleyball team, which was recently involved in the controversy after the players and an associated trainer tried to have a trans player from the list removed.
Newsom agreed with Kirk that the Democrats “crushed” on the issue and said that the Republicans had been able to arm him in the presidential election despite the reality that very few transgender athletes participate in female sports. He also recognized the struggle encountered by Trans.
“There is also a humility and a grace that these poor are more likely to commit suicide, to have anxiety and depression, and the way people speak to vulnerable communities is a problem with which I have trouble,” said Newsom.
Wiener has cited similar reasons on the reasons why the governor should not participate in the republican demonization of transgender people. There are less than 10 transgender athletes in female NCAA sports on 510,000 athletes, he said.
“The survey on this subject is terrible because the public was completely misleaded about the magnitude of this problem,” said Wiener. “This is not a problem. This is not a problem. There are children who want to play and let them play. It is not only many of them and the Republicans have blown him out of proportion. »»
Member of the Assembly Christopher M. Ward (D-SAN DIEGO), president of California legislative LGBTQ CAUCUS, said that he was “deeply overshadowed and frustrated” by Newsom’s remarks.
“This is an incredibly rare circumstance, where someone who is transgender and, by the way, is quite good and is enough to be able to successfully compete in sport,” said Ward. “So, if that’s what we want to spend 90% of our time concentrating, we waste sight of why people really send us to Sacramento to work on the biggest urgent problems in California.”
Others praised the governor on social networks to represent the views of many Democrats.
Newsom drew national attention in 2004 for marrying same -sex couples in San Francisco.
He signed a law last year which prohibited school districts from obliging teachers to inform parents of children who wish to be identified as a different sex. He also broke up with LGBTQ + activists in 2023 when he vetoed legislation that would have asked judges presiding over guard battles to take into account the support of a parent to his child’s gender identity.
The subject of sports was not the only problem involving transgender people where Newsom did not agree with the position of his party during the podcast.
The Trump campaign published an announcement in the 2024 presidential election by focusing on the support of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2019 Democratic primary for sex surgery funded by taxpayers for prisoners. The announcement presented Harris speaking of his past efforts to provide access to care to transition prisoners in California prisons.
Harris countered that his position was in accordance with the Trump administration policy at the time. The announcement alleged that Harris supports transgender women in competition “against our daughters in their sports”. During the campaign, Trump said he would prohibit transgender women from female athletics.
“Kamala is for them / them,” said the announcement. “President Trump is for you.”
Newsom, who also briefly tried to decompose the campaign rhetoric on his support for the problem with reality, called on the decision to broadcast the announcement during the NFL “Brilliant” football matches.
“Devastator,” said Newsom. “And she didn’t even react, which was even more devastating.”
Newsom has also moved from certain aspects of democratic “wake -up”, telling Kirk that no one in his office has never used the inclusive term “Latinx”, or started a meeting by sharing their favorite pronouns.
California Daily Newspapers
