Female athletes, families, and activists in California are preparing to protest the state’s new policies allowing biologically male trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports. The rally organized by the California Family Council is set to take place at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) meeting in Costa Mesa on Friday, where female athletes will share their personal stories of being sidelined by these policies. The protest follows recent controversies involving a trans athlete winning state championships and President Trump’s threats of federal funding cuts.
Taylor Starling, Kaitlyn Slavin, and Celeste Duyst are among the athletes scheduled to speak at the press conference at the event. Starling and Slavin are involved in a lawsuit against their school district after a trans athlete took their cross-country spot last fall, with school administrators reportedly comparing their ‘Save Girls Sports’ T-shirts to swastikas. Duyst’s emotional speech at a school board meeting in April, where she recounted sharing a locker room with a trans athlete before track practice, went viral.
The rally is happening amid increased scrutiny of the state, including a federal probe by the Department of Justice over Title IX violations and Trump’s threats to cut federal funding if trans athletes continue to compete in girls’ sports. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has expressed concerns about the Trump administration’s actions but has reaffirmed the state’s commitment to the rights of transgender students. A bipartisan survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the majority of residents and parents oppose the participation of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports, with over 70% of parents supporting requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching the sex they were assigned at birth.
Newsom, the state’s governor, has spoken out against the practice, calling it ‘deeply unfair’ during an episode of his podcast in March. As the situation continues to unfold, the CIF’s amended rules, allowing girls who finish behind a trans athlete to be elevated to their original position, remain in place, but the controversy over trans athlete participation in girls’ sports persists, with ongoing legal and political debates.