California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he believes transgender athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sports is “deeply unfair,” breaking with Democrats on an issue that has become one of the party’s most politically fraught.
Newsom made the comments on the inaugural episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” featuring Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an organization that brings conservative politics to high school and college campuses.
The governor announced the new podcast venture last month, promising frank conversations with some of the “biggest leaders and architects in the MAGA movement.” The first episode, which aired Thursday, saw Newsom engage in a friendly back-and-forth with Kirk, at one point asking him what advice he had for the Democratic Party.
“Get better ideas, governor,” Kirk responded. “You, right now, should come out and be like, ‘You know what? The young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports — that shouldn’t happen.’ You, as the governor, should step out and say, ‘No.’”
Kirk was referencing a transgender high school student’s victory in a girls’ triple jump event in California last month. He pressed Newsom to speak out against the student’s participation.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness; I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom said. “It’s an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.”
Newsom, a likely contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, is the highest-profile Democrat so far to explicitly question or oppose the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s athletics.
Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) and Seth Moulton (Mass.) criticized their party over its broad support for trans athletes in the aftermath of the November elections, which saw Republicans regain control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. In January, Democratic Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, both of Texas, voted with Republicans to pass legislation meant to bar transgender students from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
Earlier this week, Senate Democrats blocked the same bill from advancing any further.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found Americans have grown more supportive of policies restricting transgender rights, including ones that require athletes to compete on sports teams that match their birth sex. A February New York Times/Ipsos poll found that 79 percent of surveyed Americans believe trans athletes should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Appearing before a Senate panel in December, NCAA President Charlie Baker said he is aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes who compete in college sports.
Newsom, in Thursday’s podcast episode, said there’s “a humility and a grace” with which opponents and proponents of trans rights can talk about transgender people, but that Democrats are “getting crushed” on the issue. He called one of President Trump’s campaign ads declaring former Vice President Kamala Harris “is for they/them” “a great ad.”
“It was devastating,” Newsom said. “And she didn’t even respond to it, which was even more devastating.”
The governor’s comments came as a surprise to some California Democrats, particularly as Newsom has often put himself on the front lines of fights over gay and transgender equality.
As mayor of San Francisco, Newsom defied state law by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and signed legislation as governor that made California a refuge for gender-affirming health care for youth. Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk said he was moving his businesses’ headquarters out of California after Newsom signed legislation preventing schoolteachers from being forced to “out” transgender students to their families.
“WTF. Trans people and LGBTQ+ people are under attack. We don’t need our gov caving to conservative talking points that further hurt and scapegoat 1% of the population,” California State Assembly member Alex Lee (D) wrote Thursday in a post on the social media platform Bluesky.
“The Governor has had many courageous moments over the decades supporting LGBTQ people, including helping turbo-charge the marriage equality movement, protecting LGBTQ kids against forced outing and criminalization, and protecting trans people from criminalization in other states,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said Thursday in a lengthy statement. “He has taken significant political hits for doing so. I and so many will be forever grateful for that courage.”
“This is not one of those moments. Charlie Kirk is a vile bigot, and standing with him on this issue is profoundly disturbing,” said Wiener, a member of California’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus who introduced the state’s trans refuge law.
“Trans people are just trying to live their lives,” he said. “They’re facing a level of political hostility that leads to violence and homelessness. They need their allies to stand with them — especially when it’s hard.”
In a statement, Equality California, a state LGBTQ rights group, said it is “profoundly disappointed and angered” by Newsom’s comments.
“Right now, transgender youth, their families, their doctors, and their teachers are facing unprecedented attacks from extremist politicians who want to eviscerate their civil rights and erase them from public life. In this moment of crisis, they need leaders who will unequivocally fight for them,” the organization said.
“Instead of standing strong, the Governor has added to the heartbreak and fear caused by the relentless barrage of hate from the Trump Administration,” it continued.
Since taking office in January, Trump has signed executive orders to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, end federal support for gender-affirming care and prevent transgender people from serving openly in the military. Another order, which Trump signed on his first day back in office, declares the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female.
