Gavin Newsom doubles down on transgender athlete stance but won’t commit to solution

Liberal California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he recognizes that transgender-identifying athletes shouldn’t compete in girls’ sports, but he still won’t commit to doing anything about it.

Newsom, widely rumored to be a 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, told the Los Angeles Times last week he has not called on his state to ban the practice despite his position, made public last month on his inaugural podcast with guest Charlie Kirk.

The governor claimed he was not expecting the question but answered it honestly.  

“And then (Kirk) asked me, ‘Tell me, that’s not fair?’ And I looked at him, I said, ‘You’re right. That’s not,’” Newsom told the Times. “And so it wasn’t some grand design. And I know, I know that hurt a lot of people. But respectfully, I just disagree with those on the other side of this.”  

He also told the publication he’s “been struggling with this for some time,” and has been thinking about an appropriate solution to the problem for years. 

“I mean, we’ve been exploring this for a couple years quietly behind the scenes, and we … couldn’t land,” he said. 

During the initial interview with Kirk, Newsom expressed his desire to balance fairness and safety with his concerns about the mental health of gender dysphoric youth. 

“Completely fair on the issue of fairness. I completely agree. So that’s easy to call out the unfairness of that,” he told Kirk. “There’s also a humility and grace that 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.” 

Newsom made the initial comment after Kirk asked him to disavow AB Hernandez, who had recently won the triple jump at a California girls’ track meet by eight feet. The transgender athlete could win the event at the state championship meet later this spring, as The Lion previously reported. 

Transgender-identifying track athletes may win state titles in California, Oregon, Washington, Maine and Connecticut this year, The Lion also reported. Maine could even have two athletes take titles. 

More than 30 states now restrict males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. However, a Democrat-controlled legislative committee in California rejected a proposal to do just that last week. 

After President Donald Trump signed an executive order this year directing federal agencies to withhold funding from states and schools that allow males to compete in women’s sports, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent Newsom a letter last month urging him to take action on the issue. 

“Take a stand on your convictions. Be clear about the harms of gender confusion. Protect female spaces. Do not encourage children to seek permanent medical intervention to their sex. Inform parents,” McMahon wrote, addressing what critics have called “grandstanding” by Newsom, since he has backed many pro-trans and anti-parent policies for years. 

“Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on ‘gender identity’ places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding,” McMahon later added. “As Governor, you have a duty to warn California school districts of this risk.”  

The state is one of several under federal investigation for allowing males to compete in women’s sports, including Massachusetts, Minnesota and Oregon. 

Additionally, the Trump administration completed an investigation of Maine last month and found the state violated Title IX by letting males compete in girls’ sports. The government has frozen some grant money for the University of Maine and is now withholding nonessential U.S. Department of Agriculture funding as well.