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California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday approving a study of potential inequities in youth sports, including “race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income or geographic location.”
The Youth Sports for All Act, AB749, calls for the formation of a commission to conduct “an assessment of the need and potential for a centralized entity to improve access and participation in sports for all youth, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income, or geographic location, that addresses issues related to youth sports.”
Questions listed include “How to foster a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for youth sports.”
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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is doubling its efforts amid controversy over transgender athlete AB Hernandez in the San Jurupa Valley School District. (Mario Tama)
The law also creates a fund in the Treasury that the commission can use to finance its research.
The California Assembly’s vote in favor of AB749 comes a few months after it, and its Democratic majority, voted on April 1 to block two bills that would have banned biological males from playing women’s sports. All Democratic members then voted against.
Now, the new law comes as the state is embroiled in a divisive culture war over trans athletes in women’s sports. The U.S. Department of Justice has sued state education agencies over policies that allow biological males to compete in women’s sports, while 17 school districts have now passed a resolution to oppose the policies.
California is the largest state to defy President Donald Trump’s executive order to “keep men out of women’s sports,” joining Democratic strongholds like Minnesota, Maine and Illinois in upholding state laws aimed at protecting trans inclusion. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has allowed transgender athletes to compete in girls’ high school sports since 2014, when state law AB 1266 was signed into law.
As a result, all 17 school boards have made it a point to denounce the state’s Democratic leaders and express their support for protecting women’s sports.
The Oakdale Common School District on Monday became the latest district in California to pass this type of Title IX resolution, when it passed unanimously among district administrators. Oakdale Unified School District Board President Clayton Schemper led the initiative.
“As chairman of the board, I introduced this resolution because to me it’s just a matter of common sense. There is clearly a biological difference between boys and girls and it is no more evident than on the playing field,” Schemper told PK Press Club Digital. “All we ask is that the CIF stand up for what is right and uphold its protections in ensuring fairness in girls’ sports. Tonight, I encourage every school board in California to do the same and fight not only for our girls, but alongside them.”
Earlier in October, the state’s largest school district by enrollment and square footage passed a similar resolution. The Kern School District regularly serves more than 40,000 students and employs more than 1,700 people annually across its 31 schools. It became the 16th district to do so on October 6. Kern School District (KHSD) Administrator Derek Tisinger told PK Press Club Digital that he and his colleagues had to witness a Christian. school package to one of his district’s schools about a trans athlete last month.
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“People try to say ‘hey, it only affects a small number of people,’ but there were probably 30 girls who practiced and dreamed their whole lives of playing volleyball, and they didn’t get to play,” Tisinger said.
Resistance to participation by trans athletes is believed to have led to further withdrawals of volleyball at various levels across the state since last year.
This season, the Jurupa Valley High School girls volleyball team saw 10 regular season games lost from its schedule, PK Press Club Digital previously reported. The team is currently embroiled in national controversy after two of its senior players filed a lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD), citing their experience with a trans athlete.
Last season, a girls’ volleyball team at a Northern California Christian high school, Stone Ridge Christian, lost a playoff match to San Francisco Waldorf, which had a trans athlete on its team.
Newsom’s office previously provided a statement to PK Press Club Digital, shifting responsibility for the situation to the CIF, CDE and the state legislature.
“The CIF is an independent, nonprofit organization that governs high school sports. The California Department of Education is a separate constitutional office. Neither is under the authority of the governor. The CIF and CDE have said they follow existing state law — a law that was passed in 2013 and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (not Newsom) and in line with 21 other states. For If the law changes, the Legislature should send a bill to the governor. This is not the case,” the statement said.
A bipartisan investigation by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the majority of California residents oppose biological male trans athletes participating in women’s sports.
This figure included more than 70% of state school parents.
“Most Californians support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams corresponding to the sex they were assigned at birth,” the poll said.
“Solid majorities of adults (65%) and likely voters (64%) support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams that match the gender they were assigned at birth, not the gender with which they identify. An overwhelming majority of public school parents (71%) support such a requirement.”
