Gavin Newsom slammed for ‘sickening’ LGBTQ+ solidarity U-turn after trans comments

California’s Democrat governor Gavin Newsom has spoken out against trans inclusion in women’s sport, putting him at odds with his previous actions and other members of his party. 

Newsom – who has been Governor of California since 2019 – has previously been a staunch supporter of trans and wider LGBTQ+ rights, having criticised drag bans, signed protections for LGBTQ+ youth into law and called out Florida governor Ron DeSantis for “demeaning” the community. 

The politician made his unexpected comments in the debut episode of his podcast This is Gavin Newsom in which he spoke with Turning Point USA co-founder and notable MAGA figure Charlie Kirk.

“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 of trans inclusion in sport. 

He went on to say he is “not wrestling with the fairness issue”: “I totally agree with you. … I revere sports. So, the issue of fairness is completely legit.”

Newsom’s comments come a few weeks after president Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans women and girls from participating in female sports, which itself was the latest in a litany of anti-trans policies invoked by the Trump administration following his inauguration on 20 January.

These orders include declaring the official policy of the United States is that there are “only two sexes”, banning trans people from serving in the military and restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans people under the age 19.

The order detailing the sports ban, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”, was signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day and described trans inclusion as “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports”.

It also stated that under Title IX – a landmark piece of civil rights legislation which protects people from sex-based discrimination – educational institutions which receive federal funds “cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports”. 

Title IX has been hotly contested in recent months and years in the context of trans inclusion in sports, most notably after the Biden administration updated the legislation – first proposed in 2022 – in order to provide explicit protections for LGBTQ+ pupils and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Unsurprisingly, several Republican-led states rejected the change and sued the Biden administration, claiming the updates to Title IX were “illegal, undemocratic and divorced from reality” and put “women at risk”. 

In January, just before Trump returned to the White House, GOP lawmakers sought to define Title IX protections solely on the basis of biological sex in their rules package for the 119th Congress.

LGBTQ+ and human rights groups were quick to push back against the anti-trans sports ban, with GLAAD saying in a statement that “anti-LGBTQ politicians with a record of abusing and silencing women and stripping their health care have zero credibility in any conversation about protecting women and girls”. 

“We woke up profoundly sickened and frustrated by (Gavin Newsom’s) remarks”

In response to the podcast episode, members of the California LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus criticised Newsom for throwing trans folks under the bus. 

“Sometimes Gavin Newsom goes for the Profile in Courage, sometimes not,” a statement published on X and attributed to said California Assemblyman Chris Ward and senator Carolina Menjivar reads. “We woke up profoundly sickened and frustrated by these remarks.

“All students deserve the academic and health benefits of sports activity, and until Donald Trump started obsessing about it, playing on a team consistent with one’s gender has not been a problem since the standard was passed in 2013.”

Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, said he had been left “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,” Hoang said, as quoted by AP. 

“They need leaders who will unequivocally fight for them.”