California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he has been unable to devise a fair policy governing transgender athletes’ participation in school sports, despite years of trying, according to comments made in an interview with PBS aired Tuesday on the “Settle In” podcast.
“[A]s someone that’s not been intellectual on this, that’s had to practice the issue of how I address the question of fairness over multiple years as it relates to sports, I have been confronted. And I couldn’t figure it out, and I tried,” Newsom said.
When host Amna Nawaz asked, “Have you figured out?” Newsom responded by describing repeated attempts to reach a workable answer.
“I know my stance … I tried over two years to figure out how to make it fair, and we couldn’t figure it out. I tried to work with my legislature. We had multiple track meets, high-profile in California, and no one was happy,” he said. “In fact, we had a trans athlete, and the person the trans athlete displaced, both didn’t even compete in the finals, because we couldn’t accommodate, couldn’t figure it out. And then we came out last year with a strategy to provide medals for both, and everyone was upset about that. And so, I can’t — I couldn’t figure out the fairness on that issue.”
Newsom also framed the debate as politically motivated on the other side of the aisle, calling it “an animating issue for the Republicans.”
“I don’t know what — how to get the fairness done, so I call it unfair in the absence of figuring it out, because no one has. But the point is, they want to have this conversation. … Never has more attention placed on so few people.”
Later in the interview, discussing economic policy, Newsom suggested Democrats have let the topic distract from other priorities. “Practicing. Some may be preaching. They want us to talk about what you want to talk about, [which] is trans sports,” he said.
Newsom did not offer a specific alternative policy in the interview, and the state’s current approach — which last year resulted in dual medals being awarded to both a transgender athlete and the competitor displaced from the podium at a high-profile track meet — remains unchanged, according to his remarks.
