BURSTEducation Secretary Linda McMahon is requesting clarity on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) position on whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete on girls’ and women’s sports teams after the progressive governor and likely 2028 presidential candidate surprised many by saying he found their participation “deeply unfair.”
Newsom made the comments early this month on the debut episode of his podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom,” which featured a conversation with Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist and co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, an organization that brings conservative politics to high school and college campuses.
National and state LGBTQ rights groups admonished Newsom for the remarks, and some California Democrats accused the governor of caving to conservative talking points. “The Governor has had many courageous moments over the decades supporting LGBTQ people,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D). “This is not one of those moments.”
McMahon, in a letter sent Thursday to Newsom, said “an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with you” that transgender athletes participating on female sports teams “is unfair and wrong.”
“Many are confused, however, by your office’s silence on the harms of substituting ‘gender identity’ for sex in other areas of the school environment,” she wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill.
“Parents would appreciate your leadership directing schools to restore sex-based categories in all education programs and activities. School personnel have no business promoting the false notion that kids can choose or change their sex. If a child does exhibit this behavior, the school has a duty to notify parents,” McMahon added, referencing a California law that prevents schoolteachers from being forced to “out” transgender students to their families.
Her letter calls on Newsom to repeal that law, which he signed last year, criticizing it as “morally wrong” and alleging it violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which affords parents the right to access their children’s education records.
McMahon warned in her letter that continuing to allow transgender students access to single-sex facilities and sports teams that correspond with their gender identity also violates Title IX, the federal law against sex discrimination, and, “As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk.”
The Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have, over the last month, launched several inquiries into states, school districts and athletic associations that refuse to comply with a Trump executive order to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. Officials in states including Maine and Minnesota have said doing so would violate state anti-discrimination laws that include gender identity protections.
Attorney General Pam Bondi previously warned the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the state’s governing body for high school sports, to comply with the order and the administration’s interpretation of Title IX or the Justice Department “will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance.”
A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately return a request for comment.
McMahon’s letter comes as other Republicans press Newsom to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. At least two bills moving through the state’s Democrat-led Legislature would do just that, though the governor’s office has declined to say whether Newsom would sign them.
In a separate letter to Newsom on Thursday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) called on him to ban transgender athletes from participating in female sports ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
While signing the executive order on trans athletes in February, President Trump said transgender competitors would not be welcome at the next Summer Games, though it is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to determine eligibility requirements.
The body’s newly elected president, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, told reporters last week that a new task force will “look at the transgender issue” and “the protection of the female category.”