California: Democratic lawmakers reject proposals to ban transgender youth from participating in girl's sports

California's legislators have decided to maintain state policies that allow transgender children and teens to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identities, despite an intense national debate on the issue.

On Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers on the State Assembly's Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee rejected two proposals put forward by Republican lawmakers after hours of discussions and public testimony.

One of the proposals sought to force the California Interscholastic Federation, the entity that regulates high school sports in the state, to implement rules prohibiting students whose assigned sex at birth was male from competing on school girls' sports teams.

The second initiative sought to repeal a 2013 law that allows students to participate in sex-segregated school programs, such as sports teams, and use facilities such as bathrooms according to their gender identity. The measure would have affected students from elementary school through college.

The hearing took place a day after "Transgender Awareness Day," and weeks after Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom generated controversy among his allies by suggesting on his podcast that he considers it "deeply unfair" for transgender athletes to participate in women's sports. Despite this statement, Democrats on the committee maintained their stance in defense of current policies.

For his part, Democratic Assemblyman Chris Ward, committee chairman and leader of the LGBTQ legislative bloc, argued that these proposals are part of a broader attack on the rights of transgender youth.

However, Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, author of the bill to reverse the 2013 law, defended his proposal as a matter of fairness. "Biology matters," he argued, "sports are one of the places where that reality is most obvious.”

Essayli argued that current policies hurt female athletes by allowing competition that he considers unequal.

In addition, the Republican used his X account to argue about the issue and noted:

“Today Assembly Democrats doubled-down on their war against women and parental rights. Assembly Democrats are so committed to allowing biological boys into girls sports and locker rooms rather than protecting our daughters – the Speaker of the Assembly booted a Member from the committee so he could personally oppose my bill.

The vast majority of Californians and Americans agree: keep boys out of girls sports. Assembly Democrats are radically out of touch with commonsense. Californians and the voters will hold them accountable to restore justice and fairness in girls sports.”

According to a report from NBC News, during the hearing, Taylor Starling, a student-athlete from Riverside, shared her personal experience, stating that a transgender runner took her place on her high school's varsity cross country team. "Why are girls being told that we must sit down and be quiet while boys unfairly get ahead of us in life?” she questioned, supporting the idea of a ban.

California resists

The rejection of these proposals reaffirms California's stance as a leading state in protecting the transgender agenda, at a time when other states across the country have passed restrictive laws on the participation of trans athletes in school sports.