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.

AB 89 would have required the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports, to follow rules banning male students from playing on girls’ sports teams at school.

AB 844 would have effectively repealed the 2013 California School Success and Opportunity Act, which permits students to play in sex-segregated school programs, including on sports teams, as well as use bathrooms and other facilities, based on their gender identity. The bill would have applied to K–12 and college students.

Democratic Assemblyman Chris Ward, the committee chair and leader of the legislative LGBTQ+ caucus, claimed that the bills were part of an attack on transgender-identifying youth.

“Let’s be clear—this isn’t about fairness,” he stated in a post on Instagram. “It’s about fear and exclusion, and I won’t stand for it.”

“Targeting trans athletes doesn’t protect anyone—it harms all girls,” said Ward, who represents large parts of San Diego. “This must stop.”

Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, author of AB 844, said the measure would restore fairness to women’s sports.

“California will come into compliance with Title IX either through the legislative process or the court process,” Essayli said during the hearing on April 1. “Title IX was passed to protect sex-based sports, to protect girls so they could have their own teams, so they can compete and be champions.”

Essayli said that even one woman disenfranchised due to current state law is too many.

“You’re taking rights away from women,” Essayli said.

Cross-country athlete Taylor Starling testified at the hearing that a biological male identifying as a female took her varsity cross-country spot. She had been co-captain of the team.

“After having my spot taken away from me that I earned, I missed out on running with my varsity team in one of the top cross-country invitationals of the season,” Starling said. “My Title IX and free speech rights as a female matter, too. Why are girls being told that we must sit down and be quiet while boys unfairly get ahead of us in life?”

Essayli took to social media to condemn Assembly Democrats for continuing what he perceives as a war against women’s rights.

The Corona lawmaker said that most Californians want to keep males who identify as transgender out of girls’ sports.

“Assembly Democrats are radically out of touch with common-sense Californians, and the voters will hold them accountable to restore justice and fairness in girls sports,” he said in a statement.

According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 66 percent of Americans think that transgender-identifying athletes should play in sports based on their birth sex.

“Our young women are being forced to undress in locker rooms with boys,” Assemblyman and Republican leader James Gallagher of Chico said at the press conference after the vote. “It’s an absurd result of flawed policy.”

Republican Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez of Rancho Santa Margarita wanted to make it clear in the press conference that the bill targeted CIF competitive high school sports.

“We stood for all high school athletic females. They deserve a safe space. They deserve to be protected,” she said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, made headlines in March when he said on his podcast that he believes allowing transgender-identifying male athletes to participate in girls’ sports is unfair.

Later on April 1, Essayli resigned from the Assembly to accept President Donald Trump’s appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.