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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lauren Gambino and Sam Levin in Los Angeles

Newsom condemned for ‘throwing trans people under bus’ after sports comment

man wearing black suit gestures with hand
Gavin Newsom at a press conference in Beijing in 2023. Photograph: Tingshu Wang/Reuters

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California believed to be eyeing a run for president in 2028, is facing fierce backlash from LGBTQ+ rights advocates after his suggestion that the participation of transgender women and girls in female sports was “deeply unfair”.

In the inaugural episode of his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, the governor hosted the conservative political activist and Maga darling Charlie Kirk. The co-founder and executive director of the rightwing Turning Point USA, a Phoenix-based organization that operates on school campuses, told Newsom: “You, right now, should come out and be like: ‘You know what? The young man who’s about to win the state championship in the long jump in female sports – that shouldn’t happen.’ You, as the governor, should step out and say: ‘No.’”

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