California Governor Gavin Newsom shattered his reputation as an advocate for LGBTQ rights and betrayed the Democratic Party on Thursday.
In the debut episode of his new podcast This is Gavin Newsom, Newsom broke with his own party’s stance on trans rights and suggested that transgender athletes should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports, a spineless move from the Democrat who is likely preparing for a presidential run in 2028.
“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,” Gavin said to his guest Charlie Kirk, a MAGA activist known for pushing Trumpism on college campuses through his organization Turning Point USA.
For decades, Newsom has been a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights, and even defied his own party by issuing same-sex marriage licenses as mayor of San Francisco in 2004, more than a decade before same-sex marriage was legal nationwide. Twenty years later, the governor is breaking with his own party yet again, this time in a weak-kneed turn to the right.
Trans athletes participating in women’s sports has long been a point of attack for Donald Trump and MAGA, and a contentious topic of debate between Democrats and Republicans. On February 5, Trump signed an executive order barring trans athletes from competing in women’s sports. The next day, the NCAA said only athletes assigned female at birth could participate in women’s competition, a heartbreaking move for trans women and non-binary people competing in the NCAA.
In discussion with Kirk, Newsom touched on his background as a college baseball player and a father to four girls. “I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said.
He went so far as to applaud the GOP for its demonization of trans people, praising Trump’s ad “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
“I saw that—the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level,” Newsom told Kirk.
Why the governor of California chose a 31-year-old MAGA bigot as his companion in a conversation on the rights of a marginalized community remains to be seen. But, according to the trailer for This is Gavin Newsom, Kirk is just the first of many MAGA guests Newsom will cozy up to in the coming months.
“It’s time to have conversations with people that agree AND disagree with us,” the podcast’s description reads. “It’s time to answer the hard questions and be open to criticism, and debate, without demeaning or dehumanizing one another.” Unless, of course, those in question are trans people.
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