Lawmakers voted to block a bill that would have required the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports, to adopt rules banning male students from participating on a girls school sports team.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Republican who authored the bill, said the proposal was about fairness.
“AB 89 is about protecting women,” she said. “Full stop and that’s it.”
Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat on the committee, called the bills an attack on transgenders.
Lawmakers also rejected a proposed ban that would have reversed a 2013 law allowing students to participate on a sex-segregated sports team that aligns with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on their records. It would have applied to K-12 and college students.
The Republican-backed bills drew a large crowd to the state Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism hearing, filling up the committee room, with more people lined up outside to testify on the bills. Conservative political commentator Matt Walsh and a student-athlete who says a trans runner took her spot on her high school's varsity cross country team testified in support of a ban.
At least 24 states have laws on the books barring biological males from participating in certain women’s or girls sports competitions. Judges have temporarily blocked bans in Arizona, Idaho and Utah. In New Hampshire and West Virginia, students who sued those states over bans were allowed to compete.
At the federal level, President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month aimed at barring male athletes from participating in girls and women's sports.
