Gov. Gavin Newsom threw trans people under the bus, drove the bus over us, stopped, backed up, and rolled over us again on his first podcast.
Let’s take a step back. A major Democratic presidential candidate came out swinging against the trans community in their first podcast.
Not tariffs. Not abortion bans and attacks on patients and doctors. Not threats to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Not the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Not the rollback of environmental protections. Not the curtailing of unions and workers’ rights. Not the dangers to our democracy and institutions. Not regressive voter suppression. Not the rollback of DEI. Not undermining the freedom of the press. Not increased GOP extremism or unchecked presidential power. Not the economy tanking. Not Musk’s ridiculous DOGE or not even Ukraine.
Instead Newsom invited/platformed a right wing bigot and a key MAGA architect named Charles Kirk who exemplifies all the toxic qualities that we have come to now expect from the worst elements of the Republican Party.
Charles Kirk drove the show, not Newsom, and Kirk revealed himself right away to Newsom and us by repeatedly misgendering trans people. Newsom did not correct Kirk’s misuse of pronouns, and then even worse Newsom warmly agreed with the bigot about trans athletes, a new low for a major Democratic Party leader.
Newsom said to Kirk about banning trans women and girls in sports, “the issue of fairness is completely legit. I completely align with you, we have to acknowledge it.”
Here’s the thing. I expect right wing fascists like Kirk to not pay attention or even understand science, but Newsom isn’t stupid. He knows or should know that new studies show that puberty blockers and estrogen actually put trans girls and trans women at a physical disadvantage to cis girls and cis women in sports. The impact of the hormones are stronger than people realize.
It goes against our preconceived and even stereotypical notions of gender but the science is there. Trans women and girls are not as strong as cis girls and cis women because they interrupted the testosterone, took puberty blockers and/or estrogen. So why then is Newsom cozying up to Trump’s base through Kirk and maybe even Trump himself? Hard to say.
But when all the major Blue State Democratic governors issued a statement criticizing Trump for how he treated the President of Ukraine, Newsom was one of the only names missing. Even Josh Stein, the Governor of North Carolina, signed on and North Carolina, like California, suffered major, devastating losses from Hurricane Helene. That didn’t deter Stein from standing up for democracy and Ukraine. But Newsom was silent on one of the most important policy issues he would be expected as a potential presidential candidate to speak on.
While it makes sense to be civil and not aggravate Trump, cozying up to Trump’s base and Trump himself is not why Californians elected him or defeated the recall. Every politician has aspirations, but I am not sure that the majority of Democrats would be happy to learn that Newsom ducked when all the other Blue State governors came out in support of Ukraine.
This is not the first time that Newsom aligned himself with Republicans when it comes to trans rights. Two years ago, Newsom vetoed Senator Scott Weiner’s bill that would have mandated state judges hearing custody suits to take into consideration the needs of trans youth, particularly if their parents or legal guardians were affirming the child’s gender identity. To Weiner’s credit, he criticized Newsom then and again when Newsom backed the Republican bill today to ban trans girls and women from sports.
Perhaps Newsom is cozying up to Trump and Trump’s MAGA/Nazi base, thinking that his advocacy for marriage equality will give him cover with Democrats for trashing trans people. What he fails to understand is that many gays, lesbians, bisexuals and even straight people have rallied to our cause in recent weeks as this campaign of hate has rolled out. Just last week, an older Jewish straight cis woman here in North Carolina tentatively asked me how she could support trans people. She was so upset to see this happening. Naturally I gave her a list. But she is not the only person, and the numbers are rising as people tire of seeing Trump and now even Newsom bullying trans people.
Here’s the thing. Why make this issue his first podcast, his very first overt step towards running for president? Why align himself with hatred when trans people are literally being attacked and killed right now because of this MAGA campaign? As one trans activist noted to me, we are in the fourth, fifth, and six stages of genocide. There are ten stages of genocide. The fourth stage is dehumanization, where those that are perceived as different are treated with no human dignity. The fifth stage a planned effort through organizations like the Heritage Foundation and plans like Project 2025, and the sixth stage is creating polarization through propaganda.
Propaganda is spread by hate groups like MAGA and Trump through various right wing news sources including podcasts, newspapers, and even Fox News. Just last week, Iowa stripped trans people of their civil rights. This week a State Assemblymember in Texas introduced a bill to make being transgender a felony. I’m told that it’s unlikely to pass, but this represents a whole new front for trans people to fight on.
Why is Newsom choosing this moment in history to align himself with MAGA, a group who is trying to “erase” a tiny group of people who are marginalized, dehumanized, harassed, and killed on a daily basis? Really? Now? When democracy is under attack here in and in Europe? When our economy is already starting to tank? When Musk and Trump are waging a full scale attack on federal employees? Which side are you on Gavin Newsom?
Many often wonder what role they would have played in the 1930s in Germany when the Nazis first started dehumanizing and polarizing people against the Jewish people. I know I certainly wouldn’t have piled on hatred and bigotry, nor would I stand by silently on my podcast while someone misgendered trans women.
Collaborating with the Nazis didn’t work during World War II, and it won’t work now.
In a very revealing moment, Newsom laughed when he admitted to Kirk that his son is a Kirk fan. Really? I think it would be a mistake for any marginalized community, especially the trans community to ever trust him again. He showed his true self during that interview, and that’s actually good to know.
One of the worst parts, and there are many bad parts of this show and how Newsom “conducted” himself, is that the trans community scored a major victory this week. Democrats in the Senate held firm and rejected a bill that would have banned transgender women and girls from sports. Given where the Dems were a month ago, this is a major victory that gave Trump a major setback.
For now there is not a federal ban, and the executive order that Trump issued “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” is being challenged in federal court. So, for now trans kids can play and at the end of the day, that’s all kids want to do.
Gabriel Haaland is a transgender man living in Asheville, North Carolina. He is the former President of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and is a member of Queers for Voting Rights, an antiracist, pro democracy queer group.
