California lawmaker warns Democrats of consequences for not protecting girls' sports from trans athletes
The California state legislature will vote on a bill that would ban biological males from girls' sports in the state, as the state is currently one of the nation's biggest hotbeds for controversial incidents involving trans athletes.
The state's high school sports association, the California Interscholastic Federation, is currently under federal investigation for potential Title IX violations after several controversial incidents involving trans athletes occurred over the last year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said in an episode of his podcast that he believes trans athletes competing in girls' sports is "deeply unfair" but defended policies that enable it for the sake of sensitivity to the emotions of trans people.
On Thursday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a formal warning to Newsom and the rest of the state, suggesting federal funding may be cut to the state if it continues to enable trans inclusion in girls' sports.
California Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, who proposed the state bill to address the issue, AB 89, warned Democrats of the potential repercussions if they block this bill, both to the state's residents and to their party's reputation.
"They need to be very thoughtful because, obviously, President Trump is a man of his word, so to lose this funding, is that really what they want to do?" Sanchez asked. "This is a fight I'm not sure the Newsom administration really wants to take on, and if they do, President Trump has shown he is really strong."
Sanchez believes the state cannot afford to risk any federal funding over an issue that affects such a small population.
"There's so many school districts that would be in absolute distress. I really hope it doesn't get to that point. I hope we can come to a resolution and find common ground on this because we really need to get back to the basics. I grew up in California. We are hurting. There are so many other issues, pocket book issues, that we should be focused on."
In California, a law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."
The law and the subsequent enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the issue over the last year alone.
In Riverside, California, two girls on the cross-country team at Martin Luther King High School have filed a lawsuit against their school and California Attorney General Rob Bonta over a situation involving a trans athlete on the team. The lawsuit claims the trans athlete took a varsity spot from a female runner and that when the girls wore "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts in protest, school administrators compared them to swastikas.
The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told "transgenders have more rights than cisgender[s]" by school administrators when they protested the athlete's participation.
The neighboring Jurupa Unified School District has been dealing with a recent national controversy involving a trans track and field athlete at Jurupa Valley High School (JUVHS) who has dominated female opponents by staggering margins in the triple jump this season.
Jaspriya Singh, a former JUVHS athlete and sister to a current athlete on the girls cross-country team, laments the situation Newsom has allowed.
Back in the fall, Stone Ridge Christian High School's girls' volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament, but they forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.
Sanchez said she has talked with dozens of voters in her state who identify as Democrats, but the issue has become so overwhelming that it is pushing those voters away from the party. Sanchez added it is becoming especially more common among the state's Hispanic voters.
"Our Hispanic communities, so many of them in the state have called our office and asked 'please, please keep pushing this bill,'" Sanchez said.
"The Hispanic community very much is a family-oriented, hard-working, thoughtful community that just wants to provide opportunity and safety to their family, and to their children and grandchildren. So we've gotten a lot of conversations up and down the state of them saying 'what is going on? This is not at all what I want. Of course, I want our girls protected, allow them to be in safe spaces where they feel like they can thrive and are not worried about their physical safety or having to change in front of a man."
Sanchez's bill is one of two bills to block trans athletes from competing in girls' sports that will be voted on on Tuesday. A second bill to address the same issue, AB 844, will also get a vote.
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