California Lawmakers Reject Bills to Ban Males From Female Sports

Committee members heard from an athlete who said she lost her spot on the varsity cross-country team to an athlete who identifies as transgender.

Collegiate athlete Amber French speaks at a press conference by the Save Girls' Sports CA Coalition in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 7, 2025. The group called on the California Interscholastic Federation to follow President Trump's executive order banning biological males from women's sports. Courtesy of Alyssa Cruz

California state lawmakers have rejected a change to state policies that would have required male student athletes identifying as transgender to compete on sports teams consistent with their biological sex.

On April 1, Democratic lawmakers on the state Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism rejected two bills introduced by Republican lawmakers—AB 89 and AB 844. Democrats hold a supermajority on the committee.