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The Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) Board of Education last week unanimously adopted a resolution in support of California Assembly Bill 89, which seeks to ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.
“Under President Biden, radical changes were enacted, allowing biological males to be in women’s locker rooms and compete in their sports, robbing them of equal opportunity, safety, privacy and fairness,” said Trustee Jen Wiersma, who along with Trustee Joseph Komrosky placed the item on the agenda. “Now that President Donald Trump is back in office, he actually reverted back to the original Title IX, and he’s requiring states to comply with it, or risk being sued or [losing] funding.”
At the March 25 board meeting, Wiersma wore a black shirt that said, “Save Girls’ Sports,” on the front and the slogan, “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY,” on the back.
The shirt is similar to the shirt worn by two Riverside Unified School District athletes currently suing the state, the district and school officials alleging that AB 1266, a 2013 state law that allows transgender athletes to participate in sports that align with their gender, violates Title IX.
The students, represented by Advocates for Faith and Freedom, also allege that the district and school officials infringed upon their First Amendment rights by telling them to change their shirts or cover up the messaging on them.
According to Komrosky, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, which is also representing TVUSD in a lawsuit regarding the district’s ban on critical race theory, provided Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Temecula) with the language for the bill.
The bill, as introduced, would require the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to amend its constitution, bylaws and policies to prohibit students “whose sex was assigned male at birth from participating on a girls’ interscholastic sports team.”
Sanchez, in an emailed statement to The Riverside Record, said she introduced the bill to “restore fairness, integrity and safety to girls’ sports.”
“It is undeniable that men have biological advantages over women in most competitive sports,” Sanchez said in an emailed statement to The Riverside Record. “Ignoring the biological differences between men and women destroys any semblance of a level-playing field and puts young women at an unfair and unsafe disadvantage within their own sport.”
Sanchez said she hoped Democrats in the state legislature would be “open-minded to having the conversation and working with me to fix this issue that nearly 80% of Americans want addressed,” especially in light of comments made by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the first episode of his new podcast with guest Charlie Kirk.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom said in response to a question of whether he would support a ban transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. “I completely agree with you on that it is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.”
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However, those who work with and support transgender youth say Newsom’s statement is not supported by the data.
“If we want to have these conversations, we need to base it off of research instead of personal opinion, and I think that’s the problem in a lot of these conversations,” Jonathan P. Higgins, director of strategic communications and advocacy programs with Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “It’s too much, ‘I believe this,’ versus, ‘This is what the research says.’”
According to a brief published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, “current evidence does not suggest there is a categorical athletic advantage for transgender female athletes when compared with cisgender female athletes.”
And while many who support banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports say it is to protect children, Higgins said these policies do the exact opposite.
“We are telling children that they don’t know who they are, and that who they are doesn’t matter,” they said. “And I think that’s extremely harmful, especially when we start looking at data that shows that hindering youth from being who they want to be is harmful to their mental and emotional health.”
Equality California, a nonprofit civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the state that opposes the bill, echoed Higgins’ concerns.
“AB 89 is a cruel and discriminatory attack on transgender youth that does nothing to support fairness in sports — it only fuels fear and misinformation,” Tony Hoang, executive director for Equality California, said in an emailed statement to The Record. “At a time when transgender kids are already facing unprecedented levels of bullying and mental health challenges, this bill sends a dangerous message that they don’t belong.”
CIF, in accordance with state law, currently allows transgender athletes to fully participate in sports that align with their gender identity.
“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law, which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records,” Rebecca Brutlag, director of media for CIF said in an email to The Riverside Record.
Brutlag did not respond to follow-up questions seeking information about the investigation launched last month by the U.S. Department of Education into the organization’s policies or how AB 89 would impact CIF’s policies if passed.
Back at the TVUSD meeting, only one person spoke in support of the resolution. The other five brought up concerns that included how and why the resolution, and AB 89, were written and said that resolutions like this take the focus off of real issues facing students in TVUSD while simultaneously creating even more division in the community.
“There’s so many people that support us as individuals in the community,” Board President Dr. Melinda Anderson, whose only endorsement during her campaign came from Sanchez, said following the vote. “And sometimes it’s hard to go against our constituents, so I just want to recognize that.”
TVUSD is the only district in Riverside County at the time of publication to adopt a resolution in support of AB 89. The bill is set to be heard by the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee April 1 at 9 a.m.
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