Opinion: Newsom is playing right into the far-right’s playbook

A democratic political leader who built a reputation on standing ten toes down for the LGBTQ+ community and being the political rebel that Trump has vowed to take down, has seemingly joined the dark side. 

Late last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom released the first episode of his new podcast titled, “This is Gavin Newsom.” This week, he released the second episode featuring his first guest, Charlie Kirk. 

Kirk is a 31-year old conservative “activist” and founder of the right-wing student organization Turning Point USA. The episode gained media attention because Governor Newsom has always stood behind LGBTQ+ rights and has always been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ protections on the local, state and federal level. He has gained political support and built an entire career on the backs of LGBTQ+ Californians and what he seems to be forgetting right now, is that LGBTQ+ includes the transgender community.

The trans community is one of the most politically vulnerable communities who are constantly undergoing heavy, hateful and misinformed political attacks. 

It came as a shock to hear Gov. Newsom speak on this issue and sound just like a far-right republican who’s been against trans Americans since the very beginning. During his two terms, he has advanced LGBTQ+ protections and fundamental rights by signing laws that cement rights. 

In contrast to all this progress he’s advocated for, he took the stance against allowing trans athletes to participate in women’s sports – a hard betrayal to the community that was counting on him more than ever. The current administration is hostile and extreme in their attempts to erase gender nonconforming and trans people and a politician like Newsom, was a diamond in the rough when it came to LGBTQ+ issues. 

“I revere sports and so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” said Newsom in his podcast episode. He was referring to his view on fairness regarding trans women and young girls in women’s sports competitions. 

Many organizations and leaders across California have responded to his views of trans women competing in women’s sports. 

CEO and founder of TransLatin@ Coalition responded with outrage and disappointment. 

“The TransLatin@ Coalition is extremely disappointed and enraged about the remarks made by Governor Gavin Newsom on his podcast on the issue of trans youth participating in sports,” said Salcedo in an Instagram post. 

The Coalition called out his message about trans athletes by mentioning his need for support from conservatives for his potential bid for presidency.

“This is probably a stunt by our governor to align with conservatives to set himself up for the presidency, but he is fooling himself if he thinks this is the route.” 

Around the same time, the Los Angeles LGBT Center issued a statement condemning his exclusionary message about trans athletes. 

“Newsom is parroting the same Republican talking points used to marginalize and erase trans people,”said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the LA LGBT Center. “This is an appalling betrayal from someone who once positioned himself as a champion of equality and demonstrated such strong leadership on behalf of LGBTQ+ people during the first Trump administration.”

What Newsom and the alt-right extremists who use the fairness argument in response to trans athletes need to understand, is that trans rights are not up for debate. 

Athletes, trans or not, should be able to compete freely in sports under the First amendment. 

If it were a matter of fairness, they would also consider it unfair to have trans men compete in the male divisions of sports, yet they are not mentioned in any of the legislation aimed at supposedly making sports more fair. 

What Newsom is parroting, aligns with one of Trump’s recently signed executive orders which is titled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.’ 

The deeply disturbing and entirely misinformed perspective outlined in this executive order is sold to Americans as a form of protection and privacy for athletes, but in fact guarantees the opposite. Athletes will have to continuously undergo unfair and accusatory situations with no one to defend their position, whether they are trans or actually cisgender. This executive order and by extension, the position now shared by Newsom, actually endanger athletes who are cisgender, by relaxing privacy policies that would allow for investigation and prosecution of athletes who are accused of being trans, such as the Utah teen who was accused of being trans and put in danger by the public statement made by a Utah state school board member named Natalie Cline. 

Last year, a more prominent example made headlines across the country regarding Imane Khelif, an Olympic boxer who was attacked with hate speech, conspiracies and accusations regarding her gender. She was exposed to bullying and hate by people who questioned her gender, completely ignoring the fact that she was born a female and has competed as a female for many years. 

After her first win in the Paris Olympics where she won the fight against her opponent in 46 seconds, frequent critics of transgender rights, including Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling quickly took the opportunity to weigh in.

The mention of Trump’s lapdog, Musk, sickens me but also brings us full-circle to who is funding this anti-trans machine from the very root of the problem. He is not only Trump’s lapdog, but he’s also a multi-billionaire with too much time on his hands and nothing diplomatic or important to say about trans people. Let us not forget that his villain origin story began when ex-wife and baby mama was rumored to be dating infamous trans WikiLeak-er Chelsea Manning after breaking up with Musk. 

Since Trump’s inauguration, four other executive orders have been signed to target trans people and the institutions that support gender-affirming care and provide resources. The unfair and continued attacks on two-spirit, trans, gender nonconforming and intersex people, will not stop us from existing, but it will make it harder for us all to co-exist and thrive in a nation that is sold to the rest of the world as a free country.