A4TE Responds to Governor Newsom's Comments on Transgender Athletes

Washington, D.C. – Today, as state legislatures across the country take up bills to ban trans youth from sports, California Governor Gavin Newsom weighed in on the topic on his debut podcast. In response, Advocates for Trans Equality Chief Strategic Programs Officer Anya Marino released the following statement:

“Yet again, politicians battling to maintain power and relevance take aim at the LGBTQI+ community as their scapegoat. Conservative extremists have taken relentless legislative and executive action to gut recognition of LGBTQI+ people's civil rights and are pushing a shameful effort to erase transgender people from every aspect of public life. Governor Newsom’s statements only further fuel the far-right's campaign to dehumanize trans people. 

“Worse, his remarks targeted the most vulnerable amongst us: our community's youth, who--like all children--seek and deserve acceptance, support, and nurturing environments where they can thrive. 

“Trans people fight for fairness every day. But Governor Newsom suggests our inclusion is unfair. He’s wrong. What is unfair is banning innocent students from educational programing and activities that enrich them during their formative years, vilifying youth who merely seek the opportunity to be in community with their peers and erasing their identities by implicitly arguing they aren't who they say they are. 

“We need genuine allies now more than ever, as some of the most powerful people in the world strive to erase us.”