Say, Gavin,
As I dug through my photo library on my phone the other day, I came across a photo from September 2004. A friend of mine, Cecilia Chung, was being sworn in at San Francisco City Hall.
The photo itself is unremarkable. Frankly, we both look a little sweaty, and the flash isn't doing us a lot of favors.
At the time, you were the mayor of San Francisco. Just a few months before this, you made some of your first big, national headlines by directing the county clerk to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. I remember fondly putting up a couple who flew out from Texas to get married during that time.
I should note that they are still married today, even if they had to get a new marriage license later on. (The ones issued in 2004 were declared void by the courts.) They, like my partner and I, are in a lesbian marriage. Also, like my own marriage, one of the people in the relationship is a trans woman.
Oh, and a couple months after that photo, you signed a proclamation for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. That, of course, is far less important than all those marriage licenses, but has, nevertheless, been framed and on my wall for many years. (Transgender Day of Remembrance was started by this columnist.)
Of course, since that time, you have come up in the world, going from San Francisco's mayor, then to lieutenant governor of California, and finally to the 40th governor of the Golden State. There's even been talk, over the years, of you making it all the way to the presidency.
Based on our previous times together and the work you were doing back in the day, I've voted for you, even voting against an attempted recall of you in 2021. Today, however, I find myself wondering if my trust was misplaced.
You recently started a podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom." In doing so, you described it as featuring discussions with "people I disagree with, as well as those I look up to." I'm concerned who we will see you disagreeing with, given the caliber of people you have opted to look up to: Steve Bannon, Michael Savage, and Charlie Kirk.
When you interviewed Kirk, you praised him some 125 times. You even waxed on about how your son wished he could be there to meet Kirk.
What grabbed me, obviously, was the discussion about trans rights. You spoke against your predecessor, Jerry Brown, who signed a bill into law giving trans students equal access to sports in the state. You called it deeply unfair that a trans girl could share in sport with non-trans girls.
You also pushed back about the issue of trans prisoners, seeming to indicate that you feel that trans women should not be housed with other women in prisons. Perhaps you would prefer something more in line with Florida nowadays, where trans women are getting their heads shaved and being denied their medications? I would hope not, but honestly now I'm not so sure.
Likewise, your discussion with Savage also veered into anti-trans territory, claiming that it was transgender issues – which the left did not name, and did not push back in support of in 2024 – that lost it the election. I disagree, because I feel that the fact that the left did not stand firm, it appeared weak-willed in the election.
On this, however, you did not push back at all.
All this said, let's face it. You and I both know that a podcast is just a podcast. It's an easy venue in which you can opine, that potentially raises your stature, but it is just words. Surely, given your past record on LGBTQ issues, we need not take your agreements with a couple leading anti-trans voices to heart, now, should we?
So, let's take a moment to look at deeds, not words. In the wake of your podcast, a report in Politico noted that in January of this year you – through your chief of staff, Nathan Barankin, and Legislative Affairs Secretary Christine Aurre – discouraged Democrats from filing any pro-LGBTQ legislation.
A lot has happened since that photo back in 2004. For one, we didn't have a lock of gray hair. I know neither of us can say that today. It sounds like the changes run a lot deeper now. Would you go to the swearing in of a trans woman, champion marriage rights, or willingly promote a trans event like you did 20 years ago?
It sounds to me like you would not.
You shouldn't need me to tell you, Gavin, that transgender people are under an unprecedented attack right now. We are facing the wholesale loss of all of our rights, not just being able to play sports. We are unable to secure passports that reflect who we are, are being forced out of the armed services, and all other rights we have secured are on the table. We are being made into a convenient scapegoat by the right, and I deeply fear just how far it may go.
Now is also a time when we find our list of allies thin, as blaming transgender people has become popular on the left as well. It would seem to me, at best, that you have joined this crowd. I fear, however, that you have decided to go further, joining with your new podcast friends in using the wholesale vilification of transgender people as a stepping stone to your life once you leave the governor's office in early 2027.
I know you don't remember meeting me in 2004, but I remember you. And today, I feel betrayed.
Gwen Smith will not be voting for Gavin Newsom in the future. You'll find her at www.gwensmith.com
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