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AP / Heather Rogue said that everyone who wants to live in a society based on human rights becomes affected when you try to codify the removal of rights. |
The California Assembly on Tuesday soundly rejected Republican-sponsored bills to ban trans women from playing on high school sports teams.
This would have been a non-issue if not for Gov. Newsome's surprise announcement that he was opposed to trans athletes on his first podcast. Newsome stated that position when he was asked by guest Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally and founder of Turning Point USA.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democrat and long an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ issues, scrambled the debate when he called transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” on his podcast.
Republicans have been amplifying his comments ever since, LA Times reports.
Erika Knoll, who came to speak in support of the legislation, told the AP that she has five daughters and two sons who are athletes. She has as many offspring as trans athletes playing in California and nearly as many playing at the collegiate level in the USA. This isn't about fairness; it's about bigotry.
Many in the LGBTQ community felt blindsided and were bitter toward Newsome. Others said they weren't surprised by his anti-trans views and never trusted or voted for him in the first place.
Trans man Gabriel Haaland, former president of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and a union activist, was delighted by the news and offered this invaluable insight.
"The legislators were asked by Newsom to not move any legislation that supported transgender people and they ignored him and supported us anyway."