Gov. Gavin Newsom breaks with Democrats on trans athletes in women’s sports

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

When I was in Fresno this weekend telling a very personal story about my daughter at the Rogue Performance Festival, Gov. Gavin Newsom made news.

The governor came out against transgender women in sports, saying in his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” that it was “an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.”

Is this really Gavin Newsom?

The man who has a transgender godchild? The man who has always been part of the broad LGBTQ fight against discrimination?

Sports is a sliver of the overall transgender rights issue. But it’s the part that gives some voters moral clarity. Note Newsom doesn’t say trans women should not participate in society, for example, in  all areas of employment and endeavors.

Just sports.

That still makes it what I call “ala carte discrimination,”  and should still be considered reprehensible.

Apply a little substitution. What would your reaction be to a person who believes Blacks should be involved in every endeavor of society. Except sports. It’s just unfair, Blacks are just too good. And our kids would never get off the bench.

See, it’s a ridiculous indefensible position.

Once you start defining areas where certain people or groups can and can’t be, the slippery slope begins. You’re not far away from full scale discrimination in everything.

Trump politics

But we are in the Trump era, where Trump gets his edge by polarizing on non-traditional issues that sway Republicans and Democrats alike. He sells it as a “common sense” approach that can be presented logically with his fight to ban the penny or the paper straw.

This is where Trump mines for support in these seemingly non-political areas. When it comes to trans women competing in women’s sports, a New York Times/Ipsos poll from January found 80 percent of Americans are opposed to the idea. That includes more than two-thirds of Democrats.

You may not agree with Trump on anything else. But he bonds with the so-called low information voter on this sliver of the trans issue. It gets him votes from both sides of the aisle.

Very conveniently it slices up the broader issue of trans rights, to let people find an answer to a complex question. Trans people? No in sports, ergo, no in everything? Of course.

It’s perfect for Trump.

And for anyone who wants to emulate him.

Like Gov. Gavin Newsom.

I’ve covered Newsom since he was a San Francisco supervisor. Newsom coming out against transgender athletes in women’s sports was a shock to me.

It’s only understandable if he’s learning how to be political under a Trump era where DEI is anathema, and getting transgender women out of sports is a battle cry.

The problem is it’s sexist and discriminatory on its face.

Transwomen are women. Where else should they compete except with other women?

If Trump believes in meritocracy, there’s no other place more meritocratic than sports. A transgender woman should be seen as a good thing for women’s sports if it means the best athletes are competing against each other.

Maybe it would help if they see my story of how I’ve coped with being a a parent of a transgender woman. I’ve told it around the country, but first in Boston at a gathering of Harvard Asian alumni where there were at least two other transgender or non-binary storytellers.

Like any good story, it’s a story that lets people know you are not alone.

It’s part of my new show, “Emil Amok: 69” that I will be touring in the US and Canada later this summer.

And I will be performing an excerpt at a special benefit for AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association)–SF Chapter on March 18. I’ll be joined by several other AAPI storytellers. Get tickets here.

AAJA, especially its SF Chapter, has been so important in developing Asian American voices in journalism, including my own.

I hope you will support them.

As for Newsom, it’s disappointing to see him break with the Democrats who heretofore have been solid on the sports issue.

He’s just another Democrat trying to figure out how to fight Trump, which means you have to find a way to be like him. He’s the guy who deals in lies and half-truths.

So is Newsom anti-transgender if it’s just in women’s sports?

Of course, he is. A la carte discrimination is still discrimination.

But this is politics in the Trump era, when the Democrats are in transition trying to be winners again.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator and humorist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.