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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Parents and student athletes opposed to transgender girls on high school girls sports teams voiced their opinions Thursday morning, at a meeting of the executive committee of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which governs high school sports in the state.
“As a female athlete, I want to know that I’m safe and that I’m not engaging in unfair competition and competing against someone that has more physical advantages than I do,” said St. Francis High School junior Jordan Brace. She is a runner.
ABC10 also spoke with Beth Bourne of Davis, a vocal opponent of transgender students competing on girls sports teams.
“We know it’s not fair to have boys in girls sports,” Bourne said. “We’re asking CIF to return girls sports to the female-only category.”
As for the meeting, there was no vote on the agenda regarding transgender athletes; the parents and athletes spoke during the public comment section.
CIF told ABC10 in a statement, “The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law.”
California law says a student is allowed to participate on “athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
That was a law passed in 2013 that went into effect in 2014. Assemblymember Bill Essayli has introduced a bill this session to reverse that, requiring students to play on sports teams and use bathrooms consistent with their sex assigned at birth.
“This isn’t really an issue about trans people; this is about protecting vulnerable girls and women in safe spaces and about fairness on sports teams,” Essayli told ABC10.
Advocates for the LGBTQ+ community say—such bans are harmful. ABC10 spoke with Jorge Reyes Salinas of Equality California.
“Transgender youth already face higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide due to the discrimination and stigma, so excluding them from sports only worsens those disparities,” Reyes Salinas said.
Last week, on his new podcast “This is Gavin Newsom,” California’s Governor told his guest – conservative media personality Charlie Kirk – that he thinks transgender athletes on girls and women’s school sports teams is “unfair.”
“Would you say no men in female sports?” Kirk asked Newsom.
“Well, I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom replied.
ABC10 asked the Governor’s Office if Newsom plans on supporting Essayli’s bill.
“Our office doesn’t typically comment on pending legislation,” spokesperson Elana Ross replied.
This all comes as – back on February 5 – President Trump issued an executive order banning transgender students from high school girls’ and college women’s sports teams, threatening to “rescind all funds from educational programs that” don’t comply.
The CIF responded by saying it’s following California law, so a week later, the U.S. Department of Education announced it’s launching an investigation into CIF.
ABC10 asked the California Department of Education what’s at stake if Trump makes good on his threat. How much federal funding goes to the state’s k-12 education budget?
“For the 2021-22 school year, just under 14 percent (13.9 percent to be exact), or one in every seven dollars of public school funding in California, came from federal support,” CA Dept. of Education spokesperson Scott Roark told ABC10.
How many transgender students are we talking about here? Not many. Governor Newsom’s office told ABC10 last week: in California’s 5.8 million-student k-12 public school system, the number of transgender student-athletes is estimated to be in the single digits.
ABC10 asked the U.S. Department of Education for an update on the investigation into CIF and whether staffing cuts announced at the department would affect that investigation. They did not reply as of the publishing of this article.
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