A Republican bill would ban transgender girls from high school sports in California

On the first day of the California Legislature's new session, Rep. Kate Sanchez, an Orange County Republican, introduced a bill that would bar transgender high school students from competing on girls' sports teams.

“Young women who have spent years training, sacrificing and finding their place to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against people with undeniable biological advantages,” said Sanchez, of Rancho Santa Margarita, in a video posted on social media.

“It's not just injustice,” he added. “It's disappointing and dangerous.”

Sanchez's proposed legislation, called the Protect Girls' Sports Act, is likely to fail in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which has a record of welcoming LGBTQ+ inclusion to Californians.

But his presentation — in particular, as his first bill of the session — underscores the Republicans' continued emphasis on transgender issues, which continue to shape policy debates in California, where Democratic leaders have positioned the state as a bulwark against President-elect Donald Trump. , his opposition to trade rights was central to his campaign.

Sacramento Democrats criticized Sanchez's bill as politically flawed, saying it was an unnecessary attack on transgender youth, who make up a small portion of California's school-age population.

Congressman Chris Ward, chairman of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said in a statement that the caucus, whose members are all Democrats, “will not stand by anyone who tries to use children as political workers.”

“Attacking children is the failed issue of 2024,” Ward (D-San Diego) said. “We are shocked that a member of the Assembly introduced his first bill that targets a very small number of at-risk children instead of using this opportunity to address the important issues of affordability, housing and more that affect Californians.”

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which researches public policy on sexual orientation and gender identity, estimates that about 1.4% of American youth ages 13-17 — about 300,000 people nationwide — identify as transgender. Few play sports.

While polls show that most Americans support protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, they are deeply divided on issues involving bullied children, especially children who identify as transgender or non-binary.

In a nationwide poll conducted last year for The Times by NORC at the University of Chicago, nearly two-thirds of adults who responded said girls and transgender women should not or should not be allowed to participate in women's sports teams.

“No matter where Sacramento Democrats stand on this issue, they will need to face the facts,” Sanchez said in a statement sent to The Times, commenting on public opinion on the issue.

On the other side of the political spectrum, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) last week introduced the Transgender Privacy Act, which would automatically seal all transgender court records in an effort to protect them from eviction. or they are abused.

“The incoming Trump administration and Congressional leadership have made it clear that targeting and eradicating trans people is among the top priorities in their policy, and California must have the backs of our community members,” Wiener said in a statement about his Senate Bill 59.

Advocates for LGBTQ+ students at the Riverside Unified School District board meeting in Dec. 19 where protesters called on the district to “save girls' sports.”

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Sanchez's Assembly Bill 89, would require the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports at public and private schools, to pass rules prohibiting any “student assigned male at birth from participating in a girls' sports team.” It does not bar transgender boys from playing on boys' teams or specify how CIF will verify the gender of students.

California's education code clearly states that students must be allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including team sports, and must be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. Then Gov. Jerry Brown signed those rights into law in 2013.

Sanchez's bill comes after several recent battles in California involving girls and women playing high school and college sports.

In November, Merced Christian High School withdrew its girls volleyball team from a state playoff game against a San Francisco team with a transgender player.

This fall, the San José State women's volleyball team was embroiled in controversy after current and former players and a fellow coach attempted to have a transfer player removed from the roster by filing a federal lawsuit. After a while the judge decided that the player could compete.

In November, two female high school students sued the Riverside Unified School District, alleging that a transgender girl wrongfully kicked one of them out of the varsity club. The state's lawsuit also says that when the girls protested the situation — by wearing T-shirts that read, “Save Girls' Games,” and, “It's common sense. XX [does not equal] XY” — school officials compared it to wearing a swastika in front of a Jewish student.

The lawsuit alleges that the district's policies unfairly restrict the girls' freedom of speech and prevent them from fair and equal access to athletic opportunities.

Republican Assembly members Bill Essayli, front left, and Leticia Castillo, front right, called for the superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District to resign over his handling of the issue of transgender athletes competing in girls' high school sports at a board meeting last month.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Two Republican Assembly members from the Inland Empire, Bill Essayli and Leticia Castillo, called on the county superintendent to resign over his handling of the issue.

In 2023, Essayli, whose district borders Sanchez, co-sponsored a bill that would have required school personnel to notify parents if their child was identified as transgender at school. Critics argue that the bill would outlaw and endanger trans kids, while violating students' privacy protections under California law. The bill died in committeebut similar policies sprouted up on school boards in conservative parts of the state, showing how a Republican view that is being dismissed at the state Capitol can still drive debate on an issue.

In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1955, which prohibits schools from requiring teachers to notify families about a student's gender transition.

Daisy Gardner, schools outreach director for Our Schools USA, a nonprofit that supports AB 1955, called Sanchez's bill and Republicans' focus on transgender athletes “a powerful organizing tool from the far right.”

A parent of an LGBTQ+ student who said she was speaking for herself, not on behalf of Our Schools USA, Gardner called Sanchez's bill “a media game designed to stoke trans fear and hate so the far side can turn California red.” 2026, and the casualties are human lives.”

Gardner has contacted the parents of two high school players in the Riverside Unified School District during the recent controversy and read a statement on behalf of one of the girl's families during a tense school board meeting last month.

“They are in pure hell,” he said of the parents. “They don't know how to protect their children.”

Matt Rexroad, a longtime California political consultant, said that while urban Democrats may be scratching their heads because Sanchez is introducing this long-winded bill on a hot-button issue, it makes sense for his suburban district, “one of the most participatory areas in California.”

“It's a good political story in certain parts of California,” Rexroad said. “Obviously, Scott Wiener won't introduce this bill or vote for it, but not all of his bills pass.”

Sanchez, he said, “represents the views of his constituents.”

At least one of her constituents, was so angry about the Girls Sports Act that she called Sanchez's office and told the staffer about the details, such as how the baby's gender would be confirmed.

Michele McNutt, a former Democrat who recently changed her party registration to unpopular, said she was unsatisfied with the labor response and called the bill “workable.”

“If it fails, they can call you, 'California hates parents,'” said McNutt, whose two teenage daughters are student athletes in the Capistrano Unified School District. “I think the theater is the point, and it's not really about protecting girls' sports.”