There are positions held by elected officials and there are positions held by elected officials that have changed significantly between their children’s soccer games and their press office statements, and Gavin Newsom appears to be navigating the gap.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday to uphold state laws banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, affecting 29 states. California is not among them. California has since 2014 had a law protecting transgender athletes’ right to compete in sports consistent with their gender identity, making it one of 23 states not affected by the ruling. Newsom’s office issued a statement Wednesday, per Fox News, saying the ruling will not impact California’s current setup.
This is accurate as a description of California’s legal situation and somewhat incomplete as a description of Newsom’s own stated views. In a 2025 interview on the Shawn Ryan Show, Newsom said he has been “amazingly frustrated” by California’s trans athlete policies and that he regularly encounters parents angry about them at his children’s soccer games. According to Fox News: “Every parent coming up says, ‘It’s so unfair.’ Like ‘Whoa,’ like everywhere I went, progressively-minded people, not bigots, that are champions of trans policy like I am, but didn’t like the sports.” He said he finds it “deeply unfair” when males compete in girls’ sports. He said this. On a podcast. In 2025.
His press office, Wednesday, said the ruling will not affect California. Both statements are technically consistent in that nothing in the press release requires Newsom to personally find the existing policy fair. The press office is describing law. Newsom was describing his feelings at a soccer game. The two can coexist as long as nobody puts them in the same paragraph.
Newsom is widely expected to run for president in 2028. The Democratic primary electorate includes both parents who agree with him about the soccer game and activists who will not forgive the interview. The press office statement is designed to be read by both groups simultaneously, which is the technique that produces press office statements.
When the governor’s office says a ruling doesn’t affect his state and the governor himself has said the underlying policy is deeply unfair, which one is the governor’s position?
Sources
Fox News: Newsom’s office responds to SCOTUS ruling on women’s sports
