Latest news with #ThisIsGavinNewsom
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gavin Newsom's office says Linda McMahon's ‘fake' threats over trans kids in sports ‘divorced from reality'
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, the former professional wrestling magnate, on Wednesday morning, said California could lose federal funding if it refuses to comply with new Title IX enforcement demands targeting transgender student-athletes, escalating the Trump administration's broad effort to penalize states that allow students to compete based on gender identity. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, McMahon said California must 'send a letter of apology to all of the female participants in sports,' 'return the titles that were taken away,' and 'make it right' — or risk the loss of K–12 education funding. 'Talk is cheap,' McMahon said of Gov. Gavin Newsom. 'We've investigated... and found that it was an infraction. Now we are demanding that they take action, or we'll take action.' Related: Gov. Gavin Newsom faces backlash over comments he made about transgender student athletes Her comments came just hours before the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights formally announced its conclusion that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation are in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law barring sex-based discrimination in education. The department claims that California's policy of allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports constitutes unlawful sex discrimination. In a press release Wednesday, the department said California must rescind its guidance permitting participation based on gender identity, issue written apologies to cisgender female athletes, restore records and titles 'misappropriated by [transgender] athletes,' and adopt binary 'biology-based definitions' of sex. If the CDE and CIF do not accept the proposed resolution agreement within 10 days, the department said that the matter will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. Related: Andy Beshear lambastes Gavin Newsom for hosting Steve Bannon on podcast 'The state must swiftly come into compliance with Title IX or face the consequences that follow,' McMahon warned in the release. She added that Newsom himself 'admitted months ago it was 'deeply unfair' to allow men to compete in women's sports,' referencing the governor's controversial March podcast interview with far-right activist Charlie Kirk. That interview drew sharp condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates, including the Human Rights Campaign, who accused Newsom of legitimizing anti-trans narratives. 'It is an issue of fairness,' Newsom said during the debut episode of This Is Gavin Newsom, agreeing with Kirk's framing of trans girls in school sports. Although his office later attempted to clarify his position, civil rights groups argued that the damage was done. Related: Gavin Newsom cut LGBTQ+ health funding. The CA legislature is set to restore $40 million Newsom's office rejected McMahon's threat. 'It wouldn't be a day ending in 'Y' without the Trump Administration threatening to defund California,' Newsom's director of communications, Izzy Gardon, told The Advocate. 'Now, Secretary McMahon is confusing government with her WrestleMania days — dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality. This won't stick.' According to an administration official, the CIF is an independent nonprofit organization, not part of the Newsom administration, and they noted that California is one of 22 states with laws requiring schools to allow students to participate in athletics consistent with their gender identity. The state's law — AB 1266 — was enacted in 2013 under then-Gov. Jerry Brown. The number of transgender student-athletes in California's public school system, the official said, is estimated to be in the single digits among 5.8 million students. Related: California bans forced outing of LGBTQ+ students as Gov. Gavin Newsom signs landmark law Last year, the president of the NCAA told Congress that of the 510,000 student-athletes, fewer than 11 are trans. McMahon, a former WWE executive and major Trump campaign fundraiser, has led the administration's renewed push to enforce Title IX in line with the president's executive order banning transgender participation in women's sports despite Trump's moves to eliminate the Education Department. In a separate Fox News interview Wednesday, McMahon said the administration may consider criminal prosecution for school or state officials who defy federal directives. 'If the president would like us to look into it, we certainly would,' she said. The OCR's enforcement announcement also coincides with what the department is now calling 'Title IX Month,' which it claims honors the 53rd anniversary of the landmark law. The Trump administration no longer acknowledges June as Pride Month. This article originally appeared on Advocate: Gavin Newsom's office says Linda McMahon's 'fake' threats over trans kids in sports 'divorced from reality' Andy Beshear lambastes Gavin Newsom for hosting Steve Bannon on podcast Gavin Newsom cut LGBTQ+ health funding. The CA legislature is set to restore $40 million California bans forced outing of LGBTQ+ students as Gov. Gavin Newsom signs landmark law Gov. Gavin Newsom faces backlash over comments he made about transgender student athletes
Time Magazine
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Letting Transgender Kids Play Sports Can Benefit All Kids
President Donald Trump's raft of anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders affects many aspects of the lives of LGBTQ+ people, including their sports participation, access to healthcare, and ability to serve in the military. One executive order seeking to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports, is surprisingly picking up some Democratic support. Recently, Senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona said banning trans students from girls' and women's school sports might be 'legitimate' and argued that trans girls put cisgender girls at risk during sporting events. However, this is a damaging myth that fuels anti-trans stigma, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination and reinforces misogynistic stereotypes that girls are weak and need protection. It's not the first time a Democrat has capitulated to Republican anti-trans messaging. In Oct. 2024, during his long-shot attempt to unseat Senator Ted Cruz in Texas, Democrat Colin Allred released a campaign ad in which he seemed to oppose the participation of trans girls in sports. And in March 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom, speaking on the first episode of his new podcast 'This Is Gavin Newsom,' said it was 'deeply unfair' for trans athletes to participate in women's sports. We are not totally naïve—we get why a handful of Democrats are joining Republicans in wanting to ban trans kids from participating in sports teams consistent with their gender identities. These democratic legislators likely think their stance will appeal to 'centrist' voters; recent public polling suggests that about two-thirds of U.S. adults support such bans. But we still firmly believe that such bans are misguided, harmful, and built on falsehoods, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and inequities. Democrats should not be willing to throw transgender kids under the bus just for electoral considerations. Trans kids face higher rates of multiple physical and mental health difficulties than their cis peers—largely due to how our society treats the transgender community. But when they're allowed to play sports, these rates fall. What's more, states with policies allowing trans girls to play sports have seen increased rates of sports participation by cis girls. In other words, letting trans girls play sports benefits all girls. Shouldn't politicians be championing the benefits of sport for all? To understand why such bans are damaging, let's back up and consider the lives of trans youth. A study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that there are about 300,100 trans kids (ages 13-17) in the U.S., making up just 1.4% of all youth in that age range. The Center for American Progress notes that trans youth face 'high rates of family rejection, violence, discrimination, and suicidality.' Suicidality is shockingly common: the Centers for Disease Control conducts a national survey of high school students every two years to explore health-related behaviors, called the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), and the 2023 survey found that 53.8% of trans youth had seriously considered suicide, compared to 20.4% of the general youth population. Research has shown that trans kids are also at increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and impaired quality of life. The good news is that sports can be a real lifeline. The research is clear: when trans youth are allowed to participate in sports, these mental health risks fall. For example, trans students in states with fully inclusive athletics policies are less likely to have considered suicide than students in states without such policies. Megan Bartlett, founder of the Chicago-based non-profit The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport, told The Guardian that sports 'can be life-saving—especially for marginalized young people – because it can actually change your brain.' When kids are in sports teams, she said, the positive relationships help make them 'feel safe and practice being stressed but being able to deal with that stress,' which builds lifelong resilience. Trans kids at inclusive schools are also less likely to experience harassment and victimization. For all adolescents, participating in a sports team can reduce anxiety, depression, and feelings of loneliness. Letting trans kids play sports also improves their physical health. Trans kids have worse physical health than their peers—including higher rates of obesity and of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, like abnormal cholesterol levels—which are thought to be due to the stress of marginalization. But research has shown that playing sports lowers their risk of obesity and improves their cardiovascular health. The benefits go even further. Trans kids who are allowed to play sports in accordance with their gender identity are more likely to feel like they belong at school and more accepted by their peers. Sports help all kids gain skills in team building, management skills, commitment, and leadership. And there's even evidence that LGBTQ student athletes have higher grade point averages than those who do not play sports. Unfortunately, several myths about trans student athletes are being promoted by supporters of school sports bans. We believe these need to be challenged. The first myth, pushed by Senator Gallego, is that anti-trans sports bans are needed to protect cisgender girls. There is no evidence that trans-inclusive policies are harmful to cis girls; indeed, trans boys and girls have been openly participating in high school sports for many years now, with no documented evidence of any harm to cis kids. States that have adopted inclusive policies have seen steady or increasing rates of participation by all youth. For example, California and Connecticut, which have allowed trans kids to play sports on the team of their choice, have seen participation of all girls increase. For instance in California, participation among girls in sports has increased by almost 14% from 2014 to 2020. The second myth, peddled by Governor Newsom, is that trans kids have an unfair advantage in sports. Trans kids vary enormously in their sporting ability, just like cis kids. Some play well and some play poorly, just like cis kids. Trans kids are all different heights, sizes, and strengths, just like cis kids. Whether any kid excels at sport is most often related to factors like how hard they train and what kind of access they have to good coaches. As the ACLU argues, when a trans kid does well at sport, they should be 'celebrated for their hard work, not demonized because of who they are.' Other myths abound. For instance, some conservative politicians and organizations push the fiction that massive numbers of trans kids are now 'dominating' high school sports. In reality, one study using CDC data found that only 40.7% of trans kids in grades nine through 12 played on at least one sports team. If we apply this percentage to the 300,100 trans kids aged 13-17 in the U.S., only 122,000 trans kids are playing sports out of a total of about 21 million kids in this age rage. This means that trans kids make up an extremely tiny fraction of those in sport. Another false narrative claims that inclusive policies change the nature of girls' sports. But as the ACLU notes, that trans girls' 'participation in the girls' category does not change the nature of the category.' Inclusive policies do not undermine Title IX protections, and girls' sports have thrived in states that adopted such policies. This is why many women's rights advocacy groups support inclusion of trans people in sports. Trans kids just want the same opportunities as their peers. They want to be on sports teams to have fun, get exercise, and hang out with their friends. Just like any other kid. When we deny them that right, we are actively causing harm that could easily be avoided. And, in the end, this discriminatory behavior hurts us all.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Their political futures uncertain, Newsom and Harris go on the road to Compton to feed young dreams
California's two most prominent Democrats remain mum on their future plans, but former Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Gavin Newsom both took time to tend to their political personas in Compton Thursday, attending separate events at local schools. As hundreds of graduating seniors crossed the stage in their blue and white regalia early that morning at Compton High School, many paused to shake hands and take selfies with an honored guest on the dais: the former vice president herself, who'd made a surprise appearance after being invited by a graduating student. Several hours later, Newsom read to young students at Compton's Clinton Elementary School before standing with local leaders in front of a cheery, cartoon mural to launch a new state literacy plan. The issue is one of deep importance to the governor, whose own educational career was often defined by his dyslexia. Read more: Who is running for California governor in 2026? Meet the candidates The adjacent appearances, which occurred a few miles apart, were "coincidental," Newsom said. But they come at a moment when both the high-octane Democrats are in a political limbo of sorts. The pair are viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates, but the California political world is also waiting on tenterhooks to see if Harris enters California's 2026 race for governor – a move that would almost certainly preclude a 2028 presidential bid. Harris is expected to make a decision by summer, and her entrance would upend the already crowded race. With just 19 months left in his second and final term, the lame duck governor is scrambling to cement his gubernatorial legacy while also positioning himself as a pragmatic leader capable of steering his national party out of the wilderness. Harris, meanwhile, must decide if she actually wants to govern a famously unwieldy state and, if she does, whether California voters feel the same. Both Harris and Newsom were notably absent at the state party convention last weekend, as thousands of party delegates, activists, donors and labor leaders convened in Anaheim. Newsom was a famously loyal surrogate to then-President Biden. But in recent months with his 'This Is Gavin Newsom' podcast and its long list of Democratic bête noire guests, the governor has worked to publicly differentiate his own brand from that of his bedraggled party, one controversial interview at a time. Meanwhile, Newsom — who previously scoffed at the speculation and said he wasn't considering a bid for the White House, despite his manifest ambitions — is more openly acknowledging that he could run for the country's top job in the future. 'I might,' Newsom said in an interview last month. 'I don't know, but I have to have a burning why, and I have to have a compelling vision that distinguishes myself from anybody else. Without that, without both, and, I don't deserve to even be in the conversation.' Newsom demurred Thursday when asked whether he thought Harris would run for governor. "Look, I got someone right behind me running for governor, so I'm going to be very careful here," Newsom said to laughter, as California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — who announced his 2026 gubernatorial bid back in September 2023 — smiled behind him. Harris attended the Compton High graduation at the invitation of Compton Unified School District Student Board Member MyShay Causey, a student athlete and graduating senior. She did not speak at the ceremony, though she received an honorary diploma. Staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
San Francisco Chronicle
18-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump's biggest supporters can't be won over by Democrats, researchers say
During the life of his podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has worried one topic more than others: How can the Democratic Party attract the young men tilting toward President Donald Trump? The query has taken Newsom, an odds-on 2028 presidential contender, into polarizing, even satirized territory, criticizing trans athletes with conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and platforming — rather than challenging — MAGA provocateurs Steve Bannon and Michael Savage. While a couple of polls — including this month's Berkeley IGS survey showing a majority of Californians think the governor cares more about a presidential run than his current job — suggest 'This Is Gavin Newsom' is hurting its host's popularity, it probably won't win over any Trump fans either, says political sociologist David N. Smith. In January, Smith and his University of Kansas colleague, associate sociology professor Eric A. Hanley, published a 47-page paper deconstructing the Republican president's appeal. Building on decades of scholarship about the lure of authoritarianism and their own analysis of American voting psychology in 2012 and 2016, the social scientists make an argument that some may find offensive and others unsurprising. It goes something like this: Trump's biggest supporters are motivated by bigotry and want him to hurt the people they dislike. 'A lot of people find it really hard to believe that people would really want what Trump represents,' said Smith, who began researching authoritarianism as a sociology graduate student more than 40 years ago. 'My experience is the hard core of people who support Trump election after election is they really mean it. They support him because of what he says and does, not in spite of it.' While this wouldn't be the first time the academic community identified dictatorial red flags in Trump, ascribing them to a significant portion of the U.S. electorate reflects a rarer scholarship. Yet Smith and Hanley don't shy from the implications in 'Authoritarianism From Below: Why and How Donald Trump Follows His Followers,' in which they write that '75% of Trump's voters supported him enthusiastically, mainly because they shared his prejudices, not because they were hurting economically.' Smith and Hanley built their assessment around surveys into voter behavior by the American National Election Studies, a multi-university project that has employed lengthy questionnaires and follow-up interviews to understand the motivations and demographics of U.S. voters since 1948. Smith and Hanley convinced ANES to include several items from the Right Wing Authoritarian scale in surveys about the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. Developed by the late psychologist and author Bob Altemeyer, the scale assesses an individual's inclination toward totalitarianism and replaced an earlier psychological assessment created in California in 1950. While Altemeyer and other researchers used the scale in 'convenience sample' surveys of mostly their students over the decades, this was one of the few times the scale's cornerstone metrics were tested on nationally representative samples of the U.S. electorate. Respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement to two statements: 'Our country would be great if we honor the ways of our forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the 'rotten apples' who are ruining everything' and, 'What our country really needs is a strong, determined leader who will crush evil and take us back to our true path.' Using a statistical method called multiple logistic regression, Smith and Hanley weighed the responses against 17 independent variables to see which ones factored most heavily in the decisions of 1,883 white voters, 979 of whom voted for Trump, 716 who did so enthusiastically. The sociologists discovered that strong support for a domineering leader coincided with a big preference for Trump and big biases against women, immigrants and Black Americans. They also determined that belief mattered much more than demographics. 'If you looked at just demographic variables, then it is true that a higher percentage of people without college degrees were more likely to support Trump,' Smith explained. 'But when you also factored in attitude variables, they completely eliminated the statistical significance of the population variables.' Smith said these indicators were also present in voters who backed Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in 2012, though to a lesser extent. 'The wish for a domineering leader was a very powerful predictor of support for Donald Trump,' he said. The conclusion bucks the exit poll-popularized narrative that Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump because she spoke less credibly to voters' economic anxiety and — if it pierces the academic conference bubble — could influence a debate by Democrats about whether to try siphoning Trump's support or recapture their own. A national survey released last month by the Public Religion Research Institute, a Washington D.C. nonprofit, touched similar ground. According to PRRI's Feb. 28-March 20 survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults, majorities of Americans disapproved of Trump's job performance (54%) and viewed him as a dangerous dictator (52%), yet only a sliver of Trump voters (7%) regretted casting a ballot for him. Even fewer Harris voters (2%) regretted their vote. Remorse was expressed more by those who did not vote in the 2024 presidential election (31%) and voters who supported a third-party candidate (14%). Smith said it's these voters the Democrats should concentrate on, and that his research showed that even 'milder' Trump voters hew 'far closer to MAGA Republicans than they are to Democrats.' 'In my opinion, millions of potential voters stayed away from the polls because they didn't believe that Democratic centrism represents a genuine and progressive alternative,' he said in a follow-up email. 'If that's true, then trying again — with an even more centrist approach — is a recipe for yet another failure.' Last month, the moderate-controlled San Francisco Democratic County Central Party passed a slate of resolutions intended to reverse flagging interest in the party by advertising 'pragmatism' over progressivism. The package included a proposed age limit for public officials, sober homeless programs and a reemphasis on public safety. PRRI President Robert P. Jones, an authority on white Christian nationalism, agreed that regretful nonvoters outnumbered regretful Trump voters in his institute's poll. But within the latter group, Jones said there was a significant number of Hispanic voters, particularly Protestant ones, who have soured on Trump and could switch sides, 'especially if the economy continues to sour and if mass deportations ramp up, especially those violating due process.' Bryan Vega lives in a part of southern California where the political theories overlap. The 26-year-old clean energy consultant was elected chair of the Imperial County Democratic Party in January, after the southeast border county with a large Hispanic population swung right in the presidential election for the first time in 30 years, by about 460 votes. Trump's success trickled down to dozens of local races that Democrats lost, including Vega's unsuccessful run for his hometown Holtville City Council. 'We had six months to sell a candidate. And we already had a fractured party ecosystem,' Vega said, referring to Harris' elevation in July 2024. 'So we basically left a big vacuum for the Republican Party to make gains with young Latino men. … It's not like Republicans did this phenomenal outreach; it's just that we were dormant.' The son of farmworkers from Holtville, the self-proclaimed carrot capital of the world, Vega said Imperial County Democrats often feel like an afterthought of party leaders in Sacramento and of legislative representatives more focused on their San Diego and Coachella Valley constituents. Vega said the local party has been rebuilding through candidate recruitment efforts, monthly town halls and by building power-consolidating alliances with neighboring Democratic committees. 'We used to be reliant on top-down actions and directives. We're no longer waiting for that,' he said. 'We're doing it from the bottom up. Quite literally, because we're all at the bottom of the state.' In California, sinking voter turnout coincided with Trump flipping 10 counties in November. The state could also provide Democrats a path to reclaim Congress in 2026. With Republicans holding a three-seat majority in the House of Representatives, EMILY's List, a political incubator for pro-choice women, has targeted four of the state's House Republicans as ripe for flipping. Newsom debated the value of engaging with right-wing influencers with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the March 17 episode of his podcast. Newsom said he thought it was important to try to understand their appeal, while Walz was against lending them credibility. The California Democratic Party recently announced Walz would be a featured speaker at its annual convention in Anaheim at the end of May. Smith, who recalled once coming across a poll showing strong support for President Ronald Reagan despite most voters believing he didn't care about them, believes the U.S. audience for domineering leaders is actually getting smaller if louder. He bases that long view on ANES surveys from the 1950s, which included questions from an early authoritarian scale, his work with Hanley and a nationally representative survey Altemeyer did with Monmouth University in 2019 for his book ' Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers.' He said 37% to 41% of U.S. voters were inclined toward authoritarianism a decade ago, but ANES didn't include the authoritarian measurements in successive surveys. Smith and Hanley have proposed reincorporating them in ANES' 2026 survey, and have pitched analogue surveys in other countries. 'So far no biters,' Smith said.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly Agree: It's a Mistake for Republicans to Go on Gavin Newsom's Podcast
Tucker Carlson guested on 'The Megyn Kelly Show' on Tuesday, and both Republican commentators agreed: It's a mistake for their right-wing colleagues to appear on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's new podcast under the guise of reaching across the aisle. 'I've said I'm against conservatives going on his podcast because I think it's helping him train for 2028, and I don't think we should help him,' Kelly said of the 'This Is Gavin Newsom' podcast, which launched earlier this year. Carlson agreed, sharing that he knows Newsom personally and texts with him 'occasionally,' adding of his California credentials that he's from San Francisco and knows Newsom's ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle. The former Fox News host then shared that he originally accepted an invitation to interview on the podcast before having second thoughts. 'I have been bothering him for years, 'You should come on my show.' And he was kind of open to it. And then he whips around and he's like, 'No, you should come on mine,'' Carlson recalled. 'I was like, 'I would love to,' because I would love to debate him about what he's done to my state. And then I watched a parade of people go on, some of whom are good friends mine, and I realized – and I'm not attacking them at all – I almost did, but then I realized, oh, wait a second, the point of this is not to have a real conversation or to answer questions. The point of this is to rehabilitate.' Carlson then took a dagger to Newsom's character, saying he is 'legit smart' but that there is nothing 'at all at the core other than misery — another deeply, deeply unhappy person who we should be rooting for him to get his life together, but someone who kind of externalizes everything.' 'There's nothing at the center, and so everything is about the public display,' he said. 'A truly wounded, screwed up person on a very deep level — not joking — but also a talented person who will say anything, which in politics is an advantage.' Watch the full 'Megyn Kelly Show' segment below: Representatives from Gov. Newsom's office did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment. It's not the first time 'This Is Gavin Newsom' has come under fire on 'The Megyn Kelly Show,' with guest Charlie Kirk — conservative media personality and Turning Point USA co-founder — saying that the media effort will derail Newsom's political career. Shortly after, Newsom defended the podcast project, saying that the point is not to 'go viral' or 'own the conservatives' by winning any debates. Instead, the Democratic politician said his new podcast is about 'exploring' what Republicans think — and why their message resonated with more voters during the 2024 election. Watch the full segment from Carlson's appearance on Kelly's podcast in the video above. The post Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly Agree: It's a Mistake for Republicans to Go on Gavin Newsom's Podcast | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
