California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom has admitted that allowing male athletes to compete in female sports is “deeply unfair.”
Newsom acknowledged the issue during a podcast interview with Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The liberal governor, who is likely planning a 2028 presidential run, agreed that forcing women to compete against male athletes is “deeply unfair.”
Kirk was a guest on Thursday’s debut episode of the governor’s new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.”
“The young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports, that shouldn’t happen,” Kirk said to Newsom.
“You, as the governor, should step out and say no. Would you do something like that? Would you say no men in female sports?”
“Well, I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom replied.
“I completely agree with you on that. It’s deeply unfair.”
Kirk further pressed Newsom on whether he would condemn the recent “victory” of a male track athlete who claims to be a “transgender” female.
The trans athlete “won” with a more than 40-foot jump at Jurupa Valley High School in Southern California.
Newsom didn’t directly address the “victory” but said, “It’s a fairness issue.”
“So that’s easy to call out the unfairness of that,” Newsom said.
“There’s also a humility and a grace… these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well.”
“So both things I can hold in my hand,” the governor continued.
“How can we address this issue with the kind of decency that I think you know is inherent in you but not always expressed on the issue?”
Transgender athletes in California have long been protected under AB 1266, which was passed before Newsom’s administration.
The bill is also known as the School Success and Opportunity Act.
The law was signed in August 2013 by Newsom’s predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat.
However, Senate Bill 132, also known as the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act.
The bill allows inmates to request cells and searches that align with their gender identity.
Newsom signed it into state law in September 2020.
However, he agreed that trans issues are something his party is “getting crushed on.”
Kirk said he should express “compassion” about the issue while calling out cases like the recent incident in Jurupa Valley High School as “not fair.”
The portion of the conversation came up after Kirk told Newsom to “get better ideas” if Democrats want to make a comeback among the younger generation.
WATCH:
The male student, AB Hernandez, won an invitational meet on February 22.
He “beat” a female runner-up who had jumped just over 32 feet in her competition category.
Hernandez also took first place in two other events at the meet.
The wins come as all Senate Democrats voted against a bill that would ban transgender women from women’s sports nationwide last month.
The bill failed to meet the 60-vote threshold needed in the upper chamber, with lawmakers voting along party lines 51-45.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
The order declares that allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls.”
It requires institutions receiving federal funding to abide by Title IX and follow the definitions of biological sex.
READ MORE – Pentagon Gives Transgender Airmen Until March 26 to Resign Under Trump Order
