California Governor Gavin Newsom (D), also a potential 2028 presidential candidate, boasted about his promotion of transgenderism during a recent appearance on “The Ezra Klein Show.” “There’s no governor that’s done more pro-trans legislation than I have,” he bragged. “No one has been a stronger advocate for the LGBTQ community.” Even more striking was his blunt statement that he wants “to see trans kids.”

Leading up to these comments, Newsom called President Donald Trump “one of the most destructive presidents and human beings in my lifetime.” He discussed a need to “fight” against Trump, emphasizing how “one thing … that matters in the rest of my life is I have to look at my kids in the … eye.” He connected that with his support of transgenderism and of men in girls’ sports. “That’s an issue no one wants to hear about because 80% of the people listening disagree with my position on this,” he said. “But it comes from my heart, not just my head.”

When host Ezra Klein pressed for clarification — “Your position being?” — Newsom stated plainly: “I want to see trans kids. I have a trans godson. There’s no governor who has signed more pro-trans legislation than I have. No one has been a stronger advocate for the LGBTQ community.”

For Newsom, the injustice in sports comes not from biological women being forced to compete against biological men. Rather, as he explicitly stated, his position “came to me two years before, when I had to try to accommodate a trans athlete and another athlete who were in the state finals at track and field. They both dropped out because we couldn’t figure out a way to make it fair. It was so unfair to both their families. It broke my heart. I tried for two years to figure out how to do this.”

In other words, Newsom believes it’s unfair that trans-identifying athletes cannot compete in categories that align with their so-called “gender identity.”

Critics, however, decry this as not only an outlier stance but glaringly inconsistent with Newsom’s own words. Several months before Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated, Newsom invited Kirk to be a guest on the debut of his podcast, “This Is Gavin Newsom.” During the discussion, Kirk asked Newsom “about his thoughts on trans athletes” — specifically biological men competing in women’s categories and vice versa. The governor’s response? He stated, in reference to a recent case of a transgender high school track athlete winning a girls’ event in California, “I think it’s an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”

Adding to the whiplash, in 2023, Newsom made California the first so-called “sanctuary state” for “transgender children” who are “seeking drugs and surgeries” to attempt gender transitions. He signed SB 107 in September 2022, and it went into effect January 1, 2023. Despite “no scientific or ethical consensus on whether children can decide they have a gender identity that is different than their biological sex,” as Breitbart News previously reported, Newsom’s law blocks doctors and health plans from giving out a child’s gender transition procedure records to other states that want to punish it. It also safeguards the doctors and parents who enable minors to undergo experimental gender-transition procedures by blocking out-of-state efforts to access records or remove children from such environments.

Newsom’s latest soundbites have ignited fresh backlash, none fiercer than from Sonja Shaw, president of California’s Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Board of Education. She told The Washington Stand, “This is just more of Gavin Newsom’s typical doublespeak. He says he cares about fairness, but no governor has done more to undermine fairness for girls or parental rights in California.” As she explained, “His decision to make our state a sanctuary for secret gender transitions and his push for more ‘trans kids’ has created a system that prioritizes ideology over children’s safety, education, and well-being.”

“And let me be clear: there is no such thing as a ‘trans kid,’” Shaw insisted. “Boys are boys, girls are girls, and God makes no mistakes. He created every child beautifully and intentionally, and no government agenda can rewrite His design.”

Shaw’s battleground is Chino Valley, where her board has weathered relentless lawsuits “simply for saying parents deserve to know what’s happening with their own children and for protecting our daughters from being forced to share private spaces with biological boys.” These fights target policies that “confuse kids, fracture families, and strip parents of their God-given role.” As the whistleblower in the federal case Mirabelli v. Olson — involving two educators who “refused to lie to parents” — Shaw explained how she “exposed the state-required, state-endorsed training that teaches educators how to insert gender ideology into the classroom and keep secrets from families. That is not compassion, it is government-driven deception. Children are not political projects, and parents are not the enemy.”

Yet amid the turmoil, Shaw radiated hope: “I know California can look impossible from the outside, but I have learned that God does His strongest work in the places that seem the most broken. Every day I give God my yes, just as Isaiah said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’ And I link arms with parents, teachers, pastors, and my brothers and sisters in Christ across this state who are choosing to do the same. Together we are watching God move mountains that many people thought would never budge.” Far from defeatist, she insisted that “California is not too far gone.” Instead, “we are witnessing a genuine parental and spiritual awakening. Moms and dads are rising up. School boards are turning. Truth is breaking through the noise. Ordinary people are finding extraordinary courage given only by God! God is qualifying the called. And we are refusing to bow to fear, intimidation, or the political machine that wants to silence us.”

What fuels Shaw’s determination is faith, her love for her family, and “the countless stories from parents across California who refuse to give up on our children’s futures despite Sacramento’s chaos.” As she told TWS, those fighting in California have already successfully “flipped school boards, held CIF accountable to honor girls’ rightful championship titles, passed resolutions supporting Title IX across the state, and stood up to Governor Newsom head-on in the courtroom.” These are “victories” worth coming back to, she asserted, because they “show that when parents unite around truth, common sense, and God’s design for children, we can reclaim our schools.”

Shaw concluded with a “message to anyone who feels hopeless.” “California’s families are worth protecting, and our fight will not stop here. Whatever begins in California will ripple across the nation, and God is using ordinary Americans to reclaim this country one school district at a time. … Do not step back. Stand firm. We will not give in, and we will not give up. God is calling His people to protect children, restore families, and speak truth with boldness and love. When we give God our yes, He equips us, He strengthens us, and He goes before us in every battle.”

Family Research Council is a nonprofit research and educational organization founded in 1983, dedicated to articulating and advancing a family-centered philosophy of public life.