California Gov. Gavin Newsom is defending his support for the transgender community amid criticism of his stance opposing transgender women competing on women’s sports teams.
In an interview with Katie Couric on the podcast Next Question with Katie Couric, the Democrat responded to a question about his past comments that it is “deeply unfair” to allow transgender women to compete in female athletic competitions.
Citing a comment from one of her Substack subscribers, Couric asked the governor about those remarks, as well as advice he gave Democrats in an interview last month with CNN’s Dana Bash to spend less time focusing on pronouns and identity politics.
“[A]t a time when the trans community is so under attack — talk about otherizing and scapegoating people — people like Carl, who is one of my followers, who is trans, feels as if you’re throwing trans people under the bus, and that you see them as a political liability,” Couric said.
“And I appreciate that he’s saying that,” Newsom replied. “And in fact, he’s saying it to the person who’s promoted and signed more pro-trans legislation than any elected official in this country, period. Full stop. … And I can back that up.”
Noting that he has a transgender godson, Newsom said he signed one of the most progressive pieces of pro-trans legislation nine months ago — although it was unclear which law he was referring to — and added that more than a decade ago he argued with the Human Rights Campaign that its agenda was not sufficiently trans-inclusive.
“So why are you kind of seemingly backing off from that?” Couric asked.
“I’m not backing off,” Newsom replied. “I’m doubling down on all of that, and the grace that people just want to survive and just want to live their lives out loud, and again [I have] a record that backs that up.
“But I cannot back up an argument in favor of — in a competitive environment for sports, having experienced on multiple occasions, two years in a row, in track championships in California — the impacts of that competition and how people were displaced, and how we couldn’t square the circle of how to make this fair. And so I don’t think it is, on the sports side.”
Couric asked whether banning transgender athletes from women’s sports should be a “blanket policy.” Newsom said no, adding that California officials are still trying to strike a balance between inclusion and fairness for cisgender female athletes.
Couric asked Newsom whether the debate over trans inclusion in sports was “taking up too much oxygen” in political discourse. Newsom suggested it was, noting that people who defend trans inclusion in sports — a stance opposed by most Americans — can alienate potential political allies, and that opposition is not limited to Republicans.
“I think you lose a lot of people,” he said of the backlash such a stance generates. “Now, if you’re unwilling to accept what you see with your own eyes — competitive disadvantage or advantage — it’s going to make it difficult to get into all those other topics.”
He also criticized the Trump administration and Republicans for using transgender rights as a wedge issue and transgender people as scapegoats, noting that the number of trans athletes in competitive sports is extremely small, while adding that he still disagrees with activists about the eligibility of trans athletes.
“Good people can disagree with me. But with respect, that’s not throwing the community under the bus,” Newsom said. “Quite the contrary. It’s providing the grace where we can protect all those other rights. Because they’re coming after all the other rights, and we make it a little easier when we defend what is more and more difficult to defend.”
A new study claims that transgender women exhibit strength and overall physical fitness comparable to cisgender women after several months of gender-affirming hormone therapy.
In the landmark study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Brazilian scientists reviewed existing research comparing the body composition and physical fitness of transgender people before and after hormone therapy with that of cisgender people.
Overall, the analysis examined 52 studies involving 6,485 people -- including 2,943 transgender women, 2,309 transgender men, 568 cisgender women, and 665 cisgender men -- ranging in age from 14 to 41.
Ohio doesn't have a standalone hate crime statute. Instead, the state relies on an "ethnic intimidation" law that allows prosecutors to elevate a crime from a misdemeanor to a felony if a suspect targeted someone based on their "race, color, religion, or national origin."
But a new bipartisan bill to create a formal hate crimes law could ultimately exclude LGBTQ victims.
The bill -- HB 306 -- would create a new offense of "hate crime" in cases where a victim was allegedly targeted for violence because of personal characteristics -- including race, religion, sex, disability, political affiliation, age, military status, familial status, ancestry, national origin, or involvement in a labor dispute.
The Kansas Division of Vehicles has sent letters to transgender residents ordering them to surrender their driver's licenses under a newly enacted anti-LGBTQ law.
The letters state that transgender individuals' current licenses -- those with gender markers matching their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth -- are considered invalid as of Thursday, February 26. Recipients are instructed to surrender their licenses to obtain new credentials reflecting their sex at birth.
First reported by transgender journalist Erin Reed on her Substack, Erin in the Morning, the letter cites a recently enacted law -- vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly and later overridden by the legislature -- requiring that all driver's licenses and state identification cards reflect the holder's "sex at birth."
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