New California bill would block trans females from playing in girls’ sports

By Deborah Brennan |CALmatters Days before a Kentucky judge blocked federal rules protecting LGBTQ students last week, California Assemblymember Kate Sanchez proposed similar changes to California law. On Jan. 6 she introduced her first bill of the session, which would ban transgender females from playing on girls’ sports teams with the California Interscholastic Federation. Congressional Republicans were on the same page; on Tuesday they passed a bill to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports at the elementary through college level, which would jeopardize federal funding for schools that don’t comply. Sanchez says her bill and other legislation like it would assure a safe, fair playing field for girls. “There is a definite difference between biological boys and females in sports, especially at this age,” said Sanchez, a Rancho Santa Margarita Republican who represents Temecula and Murrieta. “This is the intent of the bill, to protect the integrity and fairness of girls’ sports.” Civil rights and LGBTQ advocates argue that the bill would turn civil rights protections against vulnerable students. Kel O’Hara, an attorney with Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco-based gender justice organization, said more than half the states have passed restrictions on transgender students’ participation in sports. Those bills...