Trump's attacks on transgender Americans are a test in California's governor's race
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - In a ballroom packed with more than 1,000 people raising money for LGBTQ+ youths, veteran California legislative leader Toni Atkins didn't mince words: To be a gay or transgender teenager right now, she said, must feel like "a rug has been pulled from beneath your feet."
In her fiery speech at the annual Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, Atkins, who is running for California governor, said President Donald Trump and other Republicans are working to "legislate our trans siblings out of public life."
"These aren't just political stunts: These are acts that put lives in danger and strip away basic human dignity," Atkins said. "So hear me, as I say: Trans people belong. Trans youth deserve love, joy and our protection."
Atkins' speech, which drew rousing applause, offered a glimpse of how Trump's efforts to undermine California's liberal values - including support for transgender Americans - will be at the heart of the state's 2026 campaign for governor.
In his first 100 days, Trump issued executive orders banning trans women from women's sports and barring the federal government from recognizing genders other than male or female.
Trump is also pushing to ban transgender Americans from the U.S. military, writing in an executive order that transgender identity is a "falsehood" inconsistent with the "humility and selflessness required of a service member." The Supreme Court cleared the way last week for that ban to take effect.
"Cruelty, and an attempt to humiliate, seems to be the point of what they are doing," said Lisa Middleton, a transgender woman and former mayor of Palm Springs.
The LGBTQ+ community has become a political force in shaping statewide policy and campaigns.
Other top Democrats running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom have also voiced strong support for LGBTQ+ rights, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Controller Betty Yee and Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
About 2.8 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people live in California, more than in any other state, and Californians overwhelmingly support laws that protect the LGBTQ+ community, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Last year, California voters overwhelming passed a ballot measure to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage into the state Constitution. A proposed ballot initiative that would have limited transgender youth medical care and required schools to notify parents about their child's gender identity failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
Polling by the Los Angeles Times last year found that more than 3 in 4 Americans see issues related to transgender and nonbinary people - which affect a fraction of the American population - as a distraction from more pressing policy matters.
"It is a trap that conservatives are utilizing to distract from the real issues at hand," said Evan Low, a former California Assembly member and the new president of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
Atkins, a former state Senate president pro tempore, former Assembly speaker and the only gay major candidate in the governor's race, said in an interview that she's "mindful that as a woman and as a member of the gay community, what I do matters." She said she supported the bill passed by the California Legislature a decade ago that allows students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.
"This administration is using that as a weapon and politicizing it," Atkins said. "That's just cruel."
An Associated Press poll found in early May that Trump's handling of transgender issues is more popular with Americans than his job performance overall. And polling done in January by the New York Times found that nearly 80% of Americans, including more than two-thirds of Democrats, opposed the idea of trans women competing in women's sports.
"The Democrats, who are trying to find their voice on so many things right now, don't know how to handle it," said Hank Plante, a political journalist and former fellow at the USC Center for the Political Future who lives in Palm Springs with his husband. "They want to be true to their base and to their principles of equal rights. But at the same time, it's a loser politically when you start talking about nonconforming gender issues and young people."
One of the Trump campaign's most bruising attack ads last fall showed a clip of former Vice President Kamala Harris saying she would support gender-transition surgery for inmates in California's prisons, then concluded with: "Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you."
"She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating," Newsom said on a recent episode of his podcast. "Brutal. It was a great ad."
On the same episode, Newsom told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk that it was "deeply unfair" for transgender girls to play on girls' sports teams. Newsom previously supported a California law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown that allowed trans students to compete in sports and use bathrooms based on their gender preference.
The uproar that followed Newsom's comments underscored the complexities Democrats face on the issue, with some Democrats alleging that Newsom strategically abandoned a vulnerable group of people to prepare for a future presidential run.
Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), the chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said the governor's remarks left him "profoundly sickened and frustrated."
But Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, one of the best-known Republicans running for governor, said he agreed with Newsom - and, if elected, would sign an executive order banning "boys competing in girls' sports."
Ron deHarte, the first gay Mexican American mayor of Palm Springs, warned in his speech at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast that the LGBTQ+ community and its allies will "march with greater fervor - we will do more than ever before."
"If you are a member of the military - transgender or not - if you are willing to fight for me, then I must be willing to fight for you," deHarte told the crowd.
In an interview, deHarte said that elected officials are now facing an ethical test over whether to speak out against Trump administration policies that they see as hurting their communities, at the risk of losing federal funding.
He said all eyes are on Maine, where the Trump administration stopped all federal education funding after Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, refused to comply with Trump's directive to ban trans girls from girls' sports.
"It's a challenging line to walk," deHarte said. "You have to make sure you have not only the right moral standing, but the right legal standing too."
Since Trump's inauguration, federal officials have targeted California over laws aimed at protecting trans students.
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees sports at more than 1,500 high schools, and the California Department of Education over a law that bars schools from automatically notifying families about issues related to students' gender identities.
Gay and trans high school students right now are experiencing fear that is "like being a little more closeted," said Delana Martin-Marshall, 38, an art teacher at A.B. Miller High School in Fontana.
She and her wife, a physical education teacher at the school, drove a dozen students from the school's gay-straight alliance in two vans to the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast.
"Students are really scared," she said. "Scared of being themselves."
There's little that state-level officials can do to reverse decisions from the White House on issues like military eligibility and passports, but the state can still be a refuge for gay and trans students, attendees said, including shoring up funding and legal protections for gender nonconforming students and for gay couples.
"The state has to prepare for what's coming," Plante said. He pointed to Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which said that the court "should reconsider" past rulings codifying Americans' rights to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
Christopher Martinez, 32, attended the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast with fellow students from College of the Desert who said they hope the next governor will focus on the day-to-day issues that affect transgender and gay college students, including the rising cost of living and housing insecurity.
"Everything is getting really expensive," Martinez said.
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