- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Democrats playing footsy with fascist Charlie Kirk over hating trans people. This is the party that’s supposed to be the great defenders of LGBT people?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair,” Newsom said in his debut podcast episode of “This is Gavin Newsom.” “I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”
Newsom’s comments on the issue roiling political debates nationwide came in a conversation with influential MAGA-world figure Charlie Kirk, the campus culture warrior who leads the organization Turning Point USA and is a close ally of President Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr.
Newsom also agreed that the most politically destructive attack ads from Trump’s campaign featured Kamala Harris’ support for providing taxpayer-funded gender transition-related medical care for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.
“She didn’t even react to it, which was even more devastating,” Newsom said, suggesting upward of 90 percent of Americans disagreed with Harris’ position. “Then you had the video [of Harris] as a validator. Brutal,” Newsom added. “It was a great ad.”
Kirk challenged Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential hopeful, to speak out against AB Hernandez, a transgender high school track star from California whose triple jump event in the women’s competition is drawing fierce backlash from the right. Newsom said he has four children of his own — including two daughters — and noted that both he and his wife participated in college-level sports, she in soccer and he in baseball.
“I revere sports, so the issue of fairness is completely legit,” Newsom said. “And I saw that — the last couple years, boy did I [see] how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level.”
Kirk challenged Newsom over his use of the word “weaponize,” and Newsom replaced it with “highlight.”
It’s a foot in the door. Once we get banned from sports for not being “real women” it leads to more bans, like from bathrooms.
The problem with sports is they’re inherently unfair. Singling out this one issue and ignoring all the other unfair aspects of sport only reinforces the basis for treating us differently.
Sports should be reformed. This isn’t it.
Agreed. The idea that sports can be ‘fair’ is ridiculous to begin with. On that point I’m deliberately not arguing in any direction because it’s a complicated subject for which I (and by far most people I hear talking about it) am not factually equipped.
But right now, pushing on this issue when the base line issues (bathrooms?) aren’t even addressed yet is causing more problems than good. Why do we think this is the right’s favorite talking point?
It’s like I said, it’s their foot in the door.
If trans women can’t be allowed in women’s sports (we’re too big, or too strong, or to aggressive, or whatever other lie), the same logic leads directly to banning us from bathrooms and locker rooms and other women’s spaces. These issues are intertwined, they can use sport as a wedge to split the coalition.
Critiquing the concept of fair sports undercuts the ability for the right to use this issue in the first place. By giving ground here, it only cedes further ground and opens us to attack.
The right attacks this wedge issue because liberals don’t have a critique of sports, because they’re fucking cowards that wouldn’t dare criticize the US civic religion.