Gov. Gavin Newsom 'did not pay attention' to committee hearing on trans athletes

Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Apr 2, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he ignored the uproar within the Legislature over his recent comments about transgender student-athletes, a day after Assembly Republicans invoked him as an unlikely ally to press for two related bills that ultimately failed.

“I didn’t pay any attention to the committee yesterday,” he told reporters after a news conference in Modesto, referring to the Tuesday hearing in the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism. “I literally spent most of the day talking about fire recovery with our team.”

Last month, Newsom said on “This Is Gavin Newsom” that he believed allowing trans athletes to compete with their cisgender peers was “deeply unfair,” exposing his administration’s long-simmering conflict with the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and emboldening Republicans and moderate Democrats eager to paint trans rights as an electoral liability.

Republican Assemblymembers Kate Sanchez and Bill Essayli seized upon his comments to advance two bills that would have barred trans K-12 athletes from competing on sports teams and overturned a decade-old state law that allows them to use facilities that reflect their gender identity.

After hearing emotional testimony from opponents and advocates, the committee, led by an unexpected appearance from Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, voted both bills down, an all-but-assured outcome under the Legislature’s Democratic supermajority. Essayli resigned from the Assembly hours later after President Donald Trump tapped him to become the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles.

Republican Assembly members, led by caucus leader James Gallagher, afterwards called Newsom a hypocrite for siding with them but then failing to make their legislation a priority.

Some Newsom supporters have painted the governor as a fair-weather ally who, when confronted with a controversial issue, was eager to abandon a group that was integral to his political rise as he mulls a run for president in 2028.

Newsom defended himself as the biggest “champion of LGBTQ rights” of any governor in the U.S., and said he was “sensitive and empathetic” to a minority community with little political power that the right has demonized, to varying degrees of success.

“I can’t stand those that demean the community and bully the community, talk down and use this to weaponize a political agenda,” he told reporters Wednesday, stressing that he was frustrated the Democratic Party hadn’t come up with a coherent message on the topic.

“The question you’re asking is the question we’ve been asking ourselves for months and haven’t been able to answer ... How can you make this fair? To the extent someone can and do it in a way that’s respectful and responsible and could find the kind of balance, then I’m open to that discussion.”

Newsom told reporters he does not see this as one of “the pressing issues of our time.”

“You’re talking about a very small number of people, very small number of athletes, and my responsibility is to address the pressing issues of our time,” he said. “And this, I think, has been colored in and weaponized by the right to be 10 times, 100 times, bigger than it is and so my focus is on a myriad of other issues in this state.”

_____