On the first day of the new session of the California Legislature, Orange County Republican Rep. Kate Sanchez introduced a bill that would ban transgender high school students from competing on girls' sports teams.

"Young women who have spent years training, sacrificing and earning their place in competition at the highest level are now forced to compete with an undeniable creature," Sanchez, of Rancho Santa Margarita, said in a video posted on social media. Competing with superior people.”

"This is more than unfair," she added. "It's frustrating and dangerous."

The law Sanchez proposed, called the Protecting Girls' Sports Act, is almost certain to fail in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which has a record of inclusion for LGBTQ+ Californians.

But the bill she introduced — especially as her first of the session — underscores the ongoing Republican emphasis on transgender issues, which continues to shape the policy debate in California and where Democratic leaders have The state is seen as a bulwark against President-elect Donald Trump, whose opposition to transgender rights is a centerpiece of his campaign.

Sacramento Democrats blasted Sanchez's bill as a political stunt, calling it an unnecessary attack on transgender youth, who make up only a small portion of California's school-age population.

Rep. Chris Ward, chairman of California's Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said in a statement that the caucus, all members of which are Democrats, "will not stand by while anyone attempts to use children as political pawns."

“Assault on children is a losing issue in 2024,” said Ward (D-San Diego). “We are surprised that the congressman is introducing her first bill that targets a very small and vulnerable group of children instead of using this opportunity to address critical issues affecting Californians such as affordability and housing.”

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, which studies public policy on sexual orientation and gender identity, estimates that about 1.4% of U.S. youth ages 13-17 (about 300,000 people nationwide) identify as transgender. gender person. Rarely participates in sports.

While polls show that a majority of Americans support protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, they are deeply divided on issues involving queer children, especially those who are transgender or non-binary.

In a national poll conducted last year by the University of Chicago's NORC for The Times, about two-thirds of adult respondents said transgender girls and women should never or rarely be allowed to compete on women's sports teams.

“No matter where Sacramento Democrats stand on this issue, they need to face the facts,” Sanchez said in a statement to The Times, noting public opinion on the issue.

On the other side of the political aisle, state Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) last week introduced the Transgender Privacy Act, which would automatically seal all court records related to a person's gender transition , to protect them from exposure or harassment.

"The incoming Trump administration and Republican congressional leadership have made clear that targeting and eradicating transgender people is one of their highest policy priorities, and California must have the support of members of our transgender community," Weiner said in a statement in a statement regarding Senate Bill 59.

Sanchez's Assembly Bill 89 would require the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports in public and private schools, to establish rules that would prohibit any "student with the sex assigned to him at birth as male from participating on a girls' interscholastic athletic team." It does not prevent transgender boys from competing on boys teams, nor does it specify how CIF will verify a student's gender.

California education law makes it clear that students must be allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including team sports, and must be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed these rights into law in 2013.

Sanchez's bill comes on the heels of several recent high-profile fights across California over the participation of transgender girls and women in high school and college sports.

In November, a Christian high school in Merced withdrew its girls volleyball team from the state playoffs against a San Francisco team that included a transgender player.

The San Jose State women's volleyball team was embroiled in controversy this fall as current and former players and an associate coach sought to have a transgender player removed from the roster by filing a federal lawsuit. A judge later ruled the player could play.

In November, two female high school students sued the Riverside Unified School District, alleging that a transgender girl unfairly removed one of the students from a spot on the school's cross country team. The federal lawsuit also claims that when the girls protested the situation, they wore T-shirts that read "Save the Girls Movement" and "This is Common Sense." XX (is not equal to) XY” — which school officials likened to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.

The lawsuit claims the district's policy unfairly limits girls' free speech and denies them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities.

Two Republican Assembly members from the Inland Empire, Bill Essaly and Leticia Castillo, called on the district’s superintendent to resign over his handling of the issue.

In 2023, Essaly's school district, which borders Sanchez's, co-sponsored a bill that would have required school employees to notify parents if their children identify as transgender in school. Critics argued the bill would be defeated and could endanger transgender children while violating California law's protection of student privacy. Bill defeated in committeeBut similar policies are popping up among school boards in conservative parts of the state, showing how Republican ideas can still drive debate on issues after being silenced at the state Capitol.

In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1955, which prohibits schools from mandating that teachers notify families of changes in a student's gender identity.

Daisy Gardner, outreach director for Our Schools USA, a nonprofit that supports AB 1955, called Sanchez's bill and the Republican focus on transgender athletes "a very powerful organizing tool for the far right."

A parent of an LGBTQ+ student said she was speaking on her own behalf, not on behalf of American schools, and Gardner called Sanchez's bill "a media stunt designed to stoke fear and hatred of trans people so that the far right can Red Tide in California.” In 2026, the casualties are trans people. "

Gardner has been in contact with the parents of two transgender high school athletes in the Riverside Unified School District amid the recent controversy and read a statement on behalf of the family of one of the girls at a raucous school board meeting last month .

"They were hell," she said of the parents. "They don't know how to protect their children."

Matt Rexroad, a longtime California political consultant, said that while urban Democrats may be scratching their heads that Sanchez would introduce such a long-term bill on such a hot-button issue, it’s a big deal for her suburb. makes sense because the suburb is "one of the more conservative areas". California area. "

"This is a good political issue for some parts of California," Rexrode said. "Obviously, Scott Weiner won't introduce this bill or vote for it, but none of his bills will pass either."

Sanchez, he said, "represents the views of her constituents."

Still, at least one of her constituents was so outraged by the Protecting Girls' Sports Act that she called Sanchez's office and grilled a staffer about specific details, like how a child's gender would be verified.

Michele McNutt, a former Democrat who just changed her party registration to nonpartisan, said she was not satisfied with staff's response and called the bill "executive."

"If it fails, they can frame it as 'California hates parents,'" said McNutt, whose two teenage daughters are student-athletes in the Capistrano Unified School District. “I think theater is the point, it’s not really about protecting girls’ sports.”