Newsom Calls Himself the Nation’s Most Pro-Trans Governor, and His Record Confirms It

From a Moment of “Fairness” to Full-Throttle Activism

In March, Newsom briefly startled the political world by telling conservative commentator Charlie Kirk that allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports is “deeply unfair.” As CFC reported at the time, Newsom acknowledged out loud what parents, coaches, and female athletes have been saying for years: biology matters, and ignoring it harms girls.

But that moment of candor was just that, a moment.

As CFC documented, Newsom did not follow his words with policy, leadership, or restraint. Instead, he immediately returned to defending California’s status quo, which allows males who identify as female to dominate girls’ sports, displace female athletes, and invade private spaces, all while threatening schools and districts that attempt to protect parents or girls.

Parents may experience rhetorical whiplash, but Newsom’s actual record is consistent.

The Legislative Record Newsom Can’t Run From

Despite acknowledging “fairness” concerns in interviews, Governor Newsom has repeatedly signed and enforced laws that entrench gender ideology across California, many of which CFC strongly opposed:

• SB 107 (2022) turned California into a “sanctuary state” for gender-transition drugs and surgeries on minors, undermining parental custody protections and blocking cooperation with other states seeking to protect children.
  SB 132 (2020) allows men who identify as women, non-binary, or intersex to be housed in the women’s state prisons. 
• AB 1487 forces taxpayers to provide $15 million to the “Two-Spirit, Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex (2TGI) Wellness and Equity Fund,” which finances hormone treatments, sex-reassignment surgeries for minors, and ideological programs, now expanded to include transgender immigrant resettlement and youth diversion projects, with little oversight.
• AB 2319 mandates gender-ideology “implicit bias” training for maternal healthcare workers, effectively requiring professionals to deny biological reality and marginalizing those who hold biblical or scientific convictions about sex and reproduction.
  AB 175 grants foster children rights to secret abortions, confidential communications, enforced pronoun usage, and gender-identity-based services—explicitly cutting foster parents out of life-altering decisions.
• AB 727 mandates a suicide hotline for all students’ IDs in grades 7-12 and college, which directs them to the Trevor Project’s online chatrooms to discuss sexual orientation and gender options with unvetted adult mentors from around the world.
• AB 230 requires menstrual products in elementary school boys’ bathrooms, beginning in first grade, normalizing gender confusion in young children.
  AB 571 shields abortionists and transgender surgeons from malpractice liability, protecting providers accused of sterilizing and surgically altering minors, including cases like that of detrainsitioner Chloe Cole.
• SB 59 seals court records related to sex and name changes and criminalizes disclosure of biological sex, making it harder to protect women’s spaces or speak truthfully.
• SB 497 and AB 82 block sharing prescription data related to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and remove testosterone from the state’s drug monitoring system entirely, eliminating oversight and transparency.
• AB 1084 allows minors to change their sex and name on birth certificates without full parental consent, sidelining parents who object on biological or moral grounds.

Just last year, Newsom also signed eight additional pro-LGBTQ bills in a single day, mandating LGBTQ-affirming training for teachers and foster parents, expanding all-gender bathrooms in schools, concealing gender changes for minors, and embedding gender ideology deeper into California’s education and licensing systems.

This is not moderation. It is systematic ideological enforcement.

“Some people thought Governor Newsom was having a change of heart on transgender ideology after his comments to the late Charlie Kirk earlier this year about the unfairness of males competing in women’s sports,” said Greg Burt, Vice President of California Family Council. “But that wasn’t a moral awakening. It was a political calculation. Newsom is watching the polls as he positions himself for a future presidential run.”

“Make no mistake,” Burt continued, “by Newsom’s own admission, and now confirmed by LGBTQ news outlets themselves, no governor in America has done more to promote transgender ideology in law and public policy than Gavin Newsom. His rhetoric may shift, but his record is clear, consistent, and deeply harmful to children, parents, and women.”

Why It Matters

Gender ideology is not merely a cultural debate; it is a child-welfare crisis.

International and federal reviews are now confirming what whistleblowers, detransitioners, and parents have been warning for years.

The United Kingdom’s Cass Review concluded that the evidence base for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in children is “remarkably weak” and riddled with uncertainty. As a result, England shut down its pediatric gender clinics and reversed course.

But the warnings didn’t stop there.

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a bombshell report concluding that powerful medical organizations—including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and WPATH—misled lawmakers and the public about the safety and effectiveness of pediatric gender interventions. The report documented serious risks from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries, especially when administered to minors struggling with gender dysphoria.

As CFC reported, the federal government’s own findings confirm that children have been subjected to experimental, life-altering medical pathways without sufficient evidence, long-term data, or meaningful safeguards.

Even California’s own medical institutions are retreating:

• Kaiser Permanente paused gender surgeries for minors
• Stanford Medicine halted certain pediatric procedures
• Sutter Health ended youth gender transition services
• Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles paused new gender-related medical interventions for minors under 19

Yet Governor Newsom presses forward, ignoring medical caution, international evidence, federal findings, and the pleas of parents.

Governor Newsom’s recent rhetorical shifts may confuse casual observers, but they should not confuse California families. By his own words, and now confirmed by LGBTQ media and advocacy groups alike, no governor in America has done more to advance transgender ideology through law than Gavin Newsom.

A momentary acknowledgment of “fairness” does not outweigh years of policies that sideline parents, erase biological reality, endanger girls, and place vulnerable children on irreversible medical paths. History will not judge leaders by how carefully they read polls, but by whether they told the truth and protected those entrusted to their care. On that measure, Newsom’s record is not mixed; it is unmistakable.