California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 749, the “Youth Sports for All Act,” which creates a “sports equity commission” to promote “the needs of diverse youth” and ensure “equity and inclusion.” Californians have cause to wonder about the need for this new government body.
If Californians believed the commission would support men competing against women, it would be hard to blame them.
No Californian of any age, race, ethnicity, or national origin is barred from participation in sports, and the federal Title IX ensures equal opportunity for women. Female athletes and their parents might check out the sponsor of AB-749, the Play Equity Fund, “the only nonprofit focused solely on Play Equity as a social justice issue.”
The Play Equity Fund website shows a photo of Blaire Fleming, a biological male on the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State University. Several schools have forfeited games with SJSU, prompting an investigation into Title IX violations at the California campus. Newsom is on record on this issue.
On the “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast in March, the governor told conservative activist Charlie Kirk that it was “deeply unfair” for so-called “transgender athletes” to participate in girls’ sports.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom told Kirk. “I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair. I’m not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.” Agreeing in principle is NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines. (RELATED: Science Has Finally Come For Transgenderism)
The 5-foot-7 athlete was forced to compete against the 6-foot-4 “Lia” Thomas, formerly Will Thomas, on the men’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania. A mediocre performer against his fellow men, Thomas took hormones and competed against women. Last year, Gaines came to San Francisco State University to make the case that men competing against women was unfair. The University of Kentucky swimmer was unaware that California universities are no longer a forum for civil debate. (RELATED: Prepare to Say Goodbye to the Transgender Moment)
A mob of “men dressed as women, women dressed as men — and everything in between” assaulted Gaines and held her hostage for four hours, demanding money for her release. Under California law, battery is “willfully touch[ing] someone with force, even if it does not injure the victim.” Assault is the “unlawful attempt … to cause a violent injury to another person.” Kidnapping involves holding “someone through force or fear” and without consent. No charges were filed, and no arrests made.
Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, issued no official statement on the violence against Riley Gaines at SFSU. The governor is now on record that men competing against women is unfair, so the “sports equity commission” is most likely an act of penance. If Californians believed the commission would support men competing against women, it would be hard to blame them.
As the people should know, the president of the Play Equity Fund, sponsor of AB-749, is Renata Simril. As Katy Grimes of the California Globe notes, the Fund pays Simril an annual salary of $506,405. The Equity Fund boss also boasts friends in high places.
In 2021, Newsom appointed Simril to the Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being. In 2023, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appointed Simril president of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks Board of Commissioners. Simril was also senior vice president of external affairs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which raises an issue.
Even with a dose of female hormones, Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani could doubtless lead a women’s team to a championship and set records for home runs. This scenario differs only in degree from the actions of Fleming and Thomas.
Gender is a matter of biological science. Trans ideology derives from reality dysphoria, a dynamic that should have no place in government.
READ MORE from Lloyd Billingsley:
Frank Meyer, Elsie Meyer and the Quest for School Choice
California’s ‘Pillage’ People Lose Equity Theft Battle
California’s Real Safe Districts
Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.