During an interview with PBS released on Tuesday’s “Settle In” podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that he hasn’t been able to figure out the fair solution for transgender athletes despite trying to do so for years.
Newsom said, “[A]s someone that’s not been intellectual on this, that’s had to practice the issue of how I address the question of fairness over multiple years as it relates to sports, I have been confronted. And I couldn’t figure it out, and I tried.”
Host Amna Nawaz then cut in to ask, “Have you figured out?”
Newsom answered, “No. I failed.”
He added, “I know my stance…I tried over two years to figure out how to make it fair, and we couldn’t figure it out. I tried to work with my legislature. We had multiple track meets, high-profile in California, and no one was happy. In fact, we had a trans athlete, and the person the trans athlete displaced, both didn’t even compete in the finals, because we couldn’t accommodate, couldn’t figure it out. And then we came out last year with a strategy to provide medals for both, and everyone was upset about that. And so, I can’t — I couldn’t figure out the fairness on that issue.”
Newsom further stated, “It’s an animating issue for the Republicans.” And “I don’t know what — how to get the fairness done, so I call it unfair in the absence of figuring it out, because no one has. But the point is, they want to have this conversation. … Never has more attention placed on so few people.”
Later, while talking about economic policy, Newsom said Democrats are “practicing. Some may be preaching. They want us to talk about what you want to talk about, [which] is trans sports.”
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