After a heated hearing Tuesday in Sacramento, California legislators killed two anti-transgender sports bans introduced by Republican lawmakers. It comes as the Trump administration is investigating a statewide sports organization over the Golden State’s policy that allows transgender student athletes to play on the sports teams aligned with their gender.
Assembly Bill 89 authored by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) aimed to ban trans girls from playing on female athletic teams. AB 844 by Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) would also have banned trans boys from playing on male sports teams.
A fool’s errand, as the Democratic-controlled Legislature was never expected to adopt the bills, the votes on the transphobic legislation by the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism Committee was appropriately scheduled Tuesday on April Fools’ Day. The panel rejected AB 89 on a 7-2 vote and AB 844 on a 6-2 vote during the hearing but left the roll open for absent members.
“Gender identity has been a protected class for more than a decade. I am not going to turn my back on that. I am not going to sanction discrimination against LGBTQ Californians, not now, not ever,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), a member of the committee who voted against AB 89 but was absent when the vote on AB 844 was taken during the hearing. “I am glad we had this debate because Californians deserve to know what our priorities are.”
In explaining her opposition to bans on trans athletes, Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) questioned where is the data to support such a policy. Before passing any bills, she suggested there be a study on how many trans athletes there are in California and then an informational hearing on the finding be held.
“This is wrong and this is cruel,” she said.
Speaking in opposition of Sanchez’s bill was Rhiannon Mulligan, an award-winning rower in college, who noted that sports are “inherently unfair” due to genetics that favor some athletes over others. Yet, policies are not put into place to ban them from their sports, she noted.
“There is no evidence trans women or girls are dominating sports,” said Mulligan, a senior legislative aide for Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz). “Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose just like any other athletes. In every sport there are simply more losers than winners.”
Voicing support for Sanchez’s bill was California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey, a former high school and college soccer player. She called allowing trans female athletes to play on women’s teams “coercive” and takes away the “right to play in fair sports” from cisgender girls.
“The simple truth is girls deserve to compete fairly and safely against other girls,” said Lorey.
Attempting to educate the public
In previous years it would have been extremely unlikely to see the bills even get a hearing. But committee chair, gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), said he had the committee take up the bills as a way to educate the public about the issue of trans sports players, particularly following Governor Gavin Newsom’s comments on his podcast in which he agreed with a conservative provocateur that the issue is one of “fairness.”
On the inaugural edition of his "This is Gavin Newsom" podcast with guest Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA who is a vocal supporter of Republican President Donald Trump and routinely attacks the transgender community, the Democratic governor and likely 2028 presidential candidate told Kirk that he was “completely aligned” with him on banning trans athletes from teams that don’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Newsom blamed California’s policy requiring trans female student athletes to be allowed to play on women’s sports teams to a sign signed by his predecessor, former governor Jerry Brown, more than a decade ago.
“It turns out in 2014, years before I was governor, there was a law established that established the legal principles that allow trans athletes in women’s sports. The issue of fairness is completely legit. I completely align with you, we have to acknowledge it,” said Newsom.
His comments were brought up by backers of the bills during their remarks before the Assembly committee Tuesday. Sanchez, the first speaker at the hearing, did so, noting that Newsom is “widely considered one of the most pro-LGBTQ governors in our state’s history” and yet agrees with her on the issue.
“It is not about hate. It is not about fear. It is not right-wing talking points,” said Sanchez. “This is entirely about fairness, safety, and integrity in high school girls’ athletics. It is long past time we have said that aloud.”
Essayli also referenced Newsom’s comments in arguing that “biological males do not belong in girls’ and women’s sports,” and therefore, his bill should be adopted.
“To quote Governor Newsom, that right-wing extremist, this is an issue of fundamental fairness. Biology matters, and sports are where that matters most,” said Essayli, adding it is “why we have sex-segregated sports in the first place.”
Yet, Democratic committee members pushed back against it being a matter of fairness and argued it is about being allowed to discriminate against trans students who want to play sports. Ward said the bills are based on bigotry and a misunderstanding of a person’s gender identity.
“To their core, trans women are women and they want to live their life as a woman and want to be respected as a woman,” said Ward.
Gay Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) warned that reversing course on protecting transgender students would further harm youth who already are at high risk for suicide ideation, depression, harassment, bullying and a host of negative health outcomes.
“I look at this issue and, the thing that actually breaks my heart, is you are using our most vulnerable students as a political cudgel and literally our most vulnerable students in the state of California,” said Zbur.
The issue of trans sports participation has roiled politics and courthouses in recent years. Both straight and trans student athletes have filed lawsuits over the matter, while Democrats in the U.S. Senate earlier this year defeated a bill that had been passed by the House and would have banned transgender youth participation in sports on teams that align with their gender identity, as the B.A.R. reported.
In February, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned three state attorneys general – including California's – to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order on transgender girls and women's participation in female sports. The federal Education Department also announced February 12 an investigation of the California Interscholastic Federation – the state's governing body of high school sports – as a result of its current pro-trans athlete policies.
Both stemmed from Trump’s executive order signed February 5 titled "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports," which states it is U.S. policy to rescind all federal funds "from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women's sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth."
It is being challenged by trans students and their families in federal court. And the statewide school athletics federation had issued a statement saying it would follow state law on the matter, not the White House, and continue to enforce its policy allowing students to compete based on their gender identity, though it does have certain guidelines for transgender female athletes to abide by, such as regarding hormone levels.
“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)], which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records,” stated the federation.
Under her AB 89, Sanchez was aiming to require the federation to amend its constitution, bylaws, and policies to prohibit a high school pupil whose sex was assigned male at birth from participating on a girls’ interscholastic sports team. It made no mention about trans male high school athletes being banned from boys’ sports teams.
In her author’s statement, Sanchez argued, “It is undeniable that men have biological advantages over women in most competitive sports. Ignoring the biological differences between men and women destroys any semblance of a level-playing field and puts young women at an unfair and unsafe disadvantage within their own sport. I introduced AB 89 to restore fairness, integrity, and safety to girls’ sports.”
In opposition to the bill was the American Civil Liberties Union California Action, which noted it is the latest move in “a nationwide, coordinated effort to sow fear and insecurity about transgender people and chip away at hard-fought civil rights protections, and California must stand firmly against it.”
It also warned the bill, if enacted, would put any student at risk of “scrutiny and harassment” should they be “perceived as not conforming to sex stereotypes.” It would also violate students’ privacy, opening up female athletes to “invasive personal questions” in order for them to compete.
“School sports play a significant role in many young people's learning and development, helping them to develop critical life skills such as communication, teamwork, and leadership. Participation in sports is also linked to better academic outcomes, improved confidence and self-esteem, and lower levels of stress and anxiety,” noted the ACLU’s state-based organization. “Transgender girls, like all students, deserve the same opportunity to learn these valuable skills and build a sense of belonging with their peers. [AB 89] would discriminate against transgender girls and prohibit them from playing school sports, even if they have been living as girls, and receiving treatment for gender dysphoria, for years.”
In addition to covering school sports teams, Essayli’s AB 844 would also have required that a pupil’s use of facilities, including bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and overnight accommodations, as well as their student housing at postsecondary institutions be based upon the pupil’s sex assigned at birth.
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