Gavin Newsom breaks with Democrats on trans athletes in sports : politics

!chuds !transphobes

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-s*x couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports.

"I think it's an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness --- it's deeply unfair," Newsom said in his debut podcast episode of "This is Gavin Newsom." "I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you."

Newsom's comments on the issue roiling political debates nationwide came in a conversation with influential MAGA-world figure Charlie Kirk, the campus culture warrior who leads the organization Turning Point USA and is a close ally of President Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

Newsom also agreed that the most politically destructive attack ads from Trump's campaign featured Kamala Harris' support for providing taxpayer-funded gender transition-related medical care for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.

"She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating," Newsom said, suggesting upward of 90 percent of Americans disagreed with Harris' position. "Then you had the video [of Harris] as a validator. Brutal," Newsom added. "It was a great ad."

Kirk challenged Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential hopeful, to speak out against AB Hernandez, a transgender high school track star from California whose triple jump event in the women's competition is drawing fierce backlash from the right. Newsom said he has four children of his own --- including two daughters --- and noted that both he and his wife participated in college-level sports, she in soccer and he in baseball.

"I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit," Newsom said. "And I saw that --- the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level."

Kirk challenged Newsom over his use of the word "weaponize," and Newsom replaced it with "highlight."

POLITICO last month was first to report Newsom's new podcast, with the Democratic governor saying he drew inspiration from the likes of HBO provocateur Bill Maher, who regularly finds common ground with conservative adversaries while taking frequent aim at Democratic dogma, including on youth trans issues.

Newsom's interview with Kirk was friendly, sometimes exceedingly so. He mentioned the influence Kirk and other MAGA-world figures have had on his 13-year-old son, distanced himself from the use of pronouns and the gender-neutral term "Latinx," called police defunding "lunacy," denounced "cancel culture" and agreed that there had been some internal issues in the leadership of the Black Lives Matter organization.

Indeed, the 75-minute interview presented Newsom in the opposite light than he appeared in over recent years when stumping as a surrogate for former President Joe Biden and Harris and sparring with ideological foes like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Fox News' Sean Hannity.

Newsom in the podcast also was self-deprecating --- joking that he only eats meals (including grabbing take-out) at the famed three-Michelin star French Laundry where he got considerable heat for attending a friends' party during Covid lockdowns and conceding that he should have been celebrating at the everyman eatery Applebee's.

On youth trans sports Kirk drew out a longer response.

There are relatively few transgender athletes competing at the collegiate level. But Newsom said it was "easy to call out" the unfairness, echoing concerns raised by Republicans in Washington and across the country who argue that banning trans women and girls from participating in school athletic competitions designated for female athletes would ensure fairness.

While Newsom has at times touched on his own concerns about the issue, particularly around youth sports, the remarks on his eponymous new podcast are his most expansive on the topic. He went on to express sympathy for trans people, noting "these poor people" have higher rates of suicide and depression and saying "the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with, as well."

Yet, Newsom said Kirk was right when he contended that Republicans were capitalizing politically by painting Democrats as out of step with a strong majority of Americans on the issue. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats blocked a GOP-led effort to bar transgender girls from female youth sports.

"I agree with you," Newsom said. "We're getting crushed on it. Crushed. Crushed."

Newsom noted his own leadership on issues of LGBTQ+ rights but he said even some of his friends have privately asked him why he's not been more vocal about trans athletes.

He said the authority for trans K-12 athletes competing in girls' and womens' sports came from a 2014 state law --- signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown --- that also allowed students who identified as transgender to use school bathrooms "consistent with their gender identity."

Newsom compared his position on trans athletes to conservatives who oppose same-s*x marriage on principle --- saying he values that Kirk and others are not abandoning their opposition now that gay marriages are both legally and socially acceptable by a majority of Americans.