California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) broke on Thursday with his party’s general stance on transgender girls and women in sports, agreeing with right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk that their participation is “deeply unfair.”
Newsom hosted Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, on the first episode of his new podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom.”
The 71-minute conversation turned to transgender identity when Newsom asked Kirk for “some advice” for the Democratic Party, as it appears to be flailing in the wake of President Donald Trump’s November victory.
“Get better ideas, Governor,” Kirk replied. “You have the opportunity to like, run to the middle, and seize this mantle.”
“You, right now, should come out and be like, you know what, the young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports — that shouldn’t happen. You as the governor should step up and say no,” Kirk said, referring to an Arizona high school junior.
The governor did not correct his guest when he referred to trans girls and women repeatedly as “young men.”
Newsom instead piped up to agree with Kirk, saying, “I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.”
He cited his role as a father of two daughters.
“I revere sports, and so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said.
He went on to tell Kirk that Democrats were getting “crushed, crushed” on the concept of transgender athletes.
“I saw that, the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level,” Newsom said of Republicans.
Kirk pushed back on the word “weaponize,” prompting Newsom to agree it was “pejorative” and to suggest “highlight” instead.
The governor then talked up his pioneering stance on gay marriage and general support for the LGBTQ+ community, suggesting Republicans were punching down by attacking transgender people, a small minority group, so viciously.
But he also distinguished the issue of transgender athletes from other LGBTQ+ rights.
Newsom posed a question: “How can we address this issue with the kind of decency that I think, you know, is inherent in you but is not expressed on the issue?”
Kirk, however, has demonstrated a clear disdain for the LGBTQ+ community.
He complains that the so-called “LGBTQ agenda” is harming children, has spoken out against gay marriage and believes gender-affirming care should be outlawed. Kirk regularly and incorrectly smears gender-affirming care as harmful bodily disfigurement instead of health care, dismissing surgeries on trans women as “castration.”