Newsom Transes on Trans Athletes — Again

Does anyone know how Gavin Newsom identifies these days? He’s been a trans “ally,” then a centrist concerned about “fairness” in female competition, and that’s just in the past few months. Now he’s once again embracing his inner Orval Faubus and identifying as a states-rights opponent to federal law enforcement. 

And not for the first time, either. Although as you’ll see, he’s not exactly showing much political courage about it.

Like Harvard, Newsom wants to suck at the federal teat in education subsidies while refusing to comply with federal law. He’s twisting himself into a pretzel to justify it, too. California’s general counsel sent a letter refusing to comply with Title IX as interpreted by both the Trump administration and federal courts, the Sacramento Bee reported yesterday:

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon gave California 10 days from June 27 to rescind any sports prizes awarded to trans athletes and ban them after the agency’s Office of Civil Rights said that the state had violated federal anti-discrimination law by allowing transgender girls to compete with cisgender girls. 

The state Department of Education’s top attorney said Monday that it would not comply with a federal agreement requiring the state to rescind any trans-inclusionary guidelines and send cisgender female athletes who lost to a trans opponent personalized apologies. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office called McMahon’s proposed agreement a “political document” that carried no weight and would force the state to illegally violate its own anti-discrimination laws. 

“The CDE respectfully disagrees with OCR’s analysis, and it will not sign the proposed Resolution Agreement,” General Counsel Len Garfinkle wrote to Bradley Burke, the regional director for OCR.

Newsom’s staff — but so far not Newsom — later weighed in on the refusal:

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s staff termed the proposed agreement a “political document” and said it had no legal validity. It would also make the state violate its own trans-inclusive nondiscrimination laws, Newsom’s aides said. California passed a law in 2013 allowing students to play on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

That’s easily resolvable. California can adopt the Hillsdale College model and eschew all federal education funding. That way, California can follow its own laws and ignore the Department of Education’s interpretations of Title IX. Of course, that would mean that the state would have to replace all those subsidies from its own tax base, which is apparently a non-starter for Newsom and his administration. The state is already suing the Trump administration to get back nearly a billion dollars that Trump froze over policy disputes:

The Trump administration on Monday moved to withhold a projected $6.8 billion nationwide in education funds — including at least $811 million from California — money appropriated by Congress to help students who are learning English and those who are from migrant families, as well as funds to boost teacher training, after-school programs and classroom technology.

The administration on Tuesday morning emphasized that no final decision had been made on the release of the funds, and cited instances in which some of the money had been used in ways contrary to its policies.

Although the frozen funds make up less than 1% of California’s total education budget, they have an outsize cumulative effect. And they involve dollars that already have been accounted for in terms of staff hired and programs planned.

What makes this supposedly principled stand incoherent is Newsom’s own attempt to appeal to the center on male encroachment on female spaces and competition. Newsom clearly has national-election aspirations, and at least in the late winter began sensing his precarious position on the fringe. Four months ago, he told Salem Radio host Charlie Kirk on Newsom’s podcast that allowing males in female competitions were “deeply unfair,” which is exactly the position held by the Trump administration:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports.

“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair,” Newsom said in his debut podcast episode of “This is Gavin Newsom.” “I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.” …

“I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said. “And I saw that — the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level.”

As I asked at the time, “would a President Newsom actually do anything about it? Scratch that — would Governor Newsom do anything about it?” At that time, Newsom threw up his hands and claimed impotence because of the same state law that California Democrats insist takes precedence over the federal Civil Rights Act when it comes to federal dollars. In the last four months, Newsom has done exactly jack squat to get the legislature to repeal that statute and restore fairness to women and girls in school sports competitions

Now, when Newsom actually has some leverage to push for that change thanks to the Department of Education’s intent to enforce sex-based interpretations of Title IX, what does Newsom do? He hides behind aides and refuses to fix his state’s “deeply unfair” environment for women and girls in California’s schools. Newsom isn’t called Greasy Gavin for nothing; perhaps Gutless Gavin is closer to the truth.