The battle over transgender athletes' participation in youth sports came to California on Tuesday as state lawmakers rejected two bills aimed at keeping trans kids and teens off sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Lawmakers voted to block a bill that would have required the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports, to adopt rules banning students whose sex was assigned male at birth from participating on a girls school sports team.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Republican who authored the bill, said the proposal was about fairness.
“AB 89 is about protecting women,” she said. “Full stop and that’s it.”
Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat on the committee, said she would support a study on transgender athletes’ participation in sports but that the proposed bans were an attack on transgender youth.
“This is wrong, and this is cruel,” she said.
Lawmakers also rejected a proposed ban that would have reversed a 2013 law allowing students to participate on a sex-segregated sports team that aligns with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on their records. It would have applied to K-12 and college students.
The Republican-backed bills drew a large crowd to the state Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism hearing, filling up the committee room, with more people lined up outside to testify on the bills. Conservative political commentator Matt Walsh and a student-athlete who says a trans runner took her spot on her high school's varsity cross country team testified in support of a ban. LGBTQ+ advocates and parents of transgender children voiced their opposition to the proposals.
Proponents of the bills referred multiple times to recent comments Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom made on his podcast, when he questioned the fairness of transgender athletes participating in girls sports, angering party allies. Newsom hasn’t directly called for a reversal of state law and generally does not comment on pending legislation.
The hearing comes a day after Transgender Day of Visibility.
Democrat Assemblymember Chris Ward, the committee chair who leads the legislative LGBTQ+ caucus, said before the hearing he hoped it would “provide a balanced setting where both sides can present their arguments and engage in rational deliberation.”
At least 24 states have laws on the books barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls sports competitions. Judges have temporarily blocked bans in Arizona, Idaho and Utah. In New Hampshire and West Virginia, students who sued those states over bans were allowed to compete.
At the federal level, President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month aimed at barring transgender athletes from participating in girls and women's sports.
The bans are part of a nationwide battle over transgender rights, with some states also imposing bans on gender-affirming care and requiring schools to share students’ gender identity with parents without the students’ consent.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon weighed in on California's proposed ban. She sent Newsom a letter last week, saying his remarks on his podcast caught her attention and requesting he clarify his stance and support the bill that would reverse the 2013 law.
“Take a stand on your convictions,” she wrote. "Be clear about the harms of gender confusion. Protect female spaces. Do not encourage children to seek permanent medical interventions to their sex. Inform parents."
The U.S. Department of Education also announced an investigation last week into the state education department over a law banning school districts from requiring teachers and staff to notify parents if a student changes their gender identity at school.
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