A teenage competitor who has transitioned from male to female was able to compete in a California state championship as a girl, against girls, over the weekend. The California Interscholastic Federation rule changes last week made it so that the young woman who would have otherwise won first place shared the podium with the transgender athlete (CIF is the governing body for high school sports in California).
When I asked Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office for comment, it quickly responded that the governor didn’t sign AB 1266 (a state law that allows students to play in the sport league of their preferred gender). Gov. Jerry Brown did. It also said Newsom had nothing to do with CIF or the rule changes.
Yet, when I spoke to insiders in Sacramento, the feeling on the ground was very different. Centrist and level-headed Democrats are terrified to speak up. They feel pressure from the Democratic caucus to sit down and shut up. The statement Newsom released, applauding the CIF rule change, made it pretty clear where he stands, even though he, too, is distancing himself from this issue for now.
Newsom’s office also restated to me what some outlets have reported, that it believes the number of high school athletes who are transgender is in the single digits in the state. Mothers with girls in sports called BS on this when they spoke to me via phone, text, email, and DMs. California does not require student athletes to disclose their gender identity, so how did the governor’s office come up with this number? The mad mamas I spoke to offered up numerous instances of their girls facing biological boys in sports ranging from water polo to volleyball to basketball and even hockey.
A continual thread from the Left is that these parents and “outsiders” are “anti trans.” But in reality, their tone is more about concerns of safety, innocence, and unfairness. These aren’t all parents or students on the religious Right.
Sophia Lorey, outreach director at the California Family Council, a Christian public policy group that advocates religious freedom, parental rights, and fairness in school sports, has attended numerous CIF events. She started doing so at the request of parents and participating athletes. Lorey was removed by a CIF official over the weekend for handing out pink “XX Only” bracelets and pamphlets with her mother.
“As a former CIF varsity and collegiate athlete, I showed up to defend girls’ sports and was escorted out by CIF and police for handing out ‘save girls’ sports’ bracelets and flyers,” she told me. “No one could point to a single policy justifying their actions. Meanwhile, a male athlete was dominating three girls’ events. These girls deserved celebration, not compromise. Watching them share the spotlight with someone who had a biological advantage was painful. We are failing them when we refuse to protect fairness.”
She continued, “Silencing women who speak up for fairness is an attack on the First Amendment and a betrayal of every female athlete who plays by the rules. It is clear that I didn’t disrupt the competition; I disrupted CIF’s narrative.”
Most participants who are pro-girls, pro-girls sports, and pro-girls’ opportunities are confused and frustrated when they show up at tournaments, meets, and competitions to find out that they will be competing against someone with a biological advantage. The meets were confusing and sad when these girls recognized that they wouldn’t make the top nine because of a biological male. They were upset, nervous, and in tears while feeling a sense of disappointment and unfairness before they even competed.
DOJ THREATENS LAWSUIT OVER CALIFORNIA TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY
CIF isn’t doing these things in a vacuum. It is afraid of radical leftist organizations such as Equality CA and the Trevor Project, whose form 990s boast funding of almost $100 million nationally, coming in and pressuring the Democratic supermajority not to allow CIF to operate as an organization within the state. Worst case scenario, these agenda-driven Democrats create a new state body to regulate school sports that is beholden to the legislature directly.
The California Family Council has a website with a petition that has garnered over 15,000 signatures demanding that the CIF take the concerns of girls in sports seriously and make rule changes to protect them. I’d urge all concerned athletes and parents to sign it. You may think that this started in California and ends in California, but it is happening everywhere. Our girls deserve better.
Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator and speaker who resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their four children. She advocates women’s rights, school choice, and smaller government.
