The candidates for California governor on transgender athletes in school sports | Side-by-side comparison

As California voters prepare to choose their next governor in 2026, the question of whether transgender students should be allowed to play on school sports teams based on their gender identity has emerged as one of the gubernatorial race’s most contentious issues. Over several weeks in September, CBS News California Investigates correspondent Julie Watts sat down with candidates in the race to discuss their views on a variety of policy questions, including California’s law that guarantees transgender students the right to participate on the team that aligns with their gender identity. In this segment, we examine how candidates interpret that law, whether they believe it should stand, and where they would draw the line when it comes to fairness, inclusion, or state authority. Current California law requires public schools to allow students to participate in sex-segregated sports teams and use facilities based on their gender identity, regardless of what is listed on school records. According to an April 2025 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, 65% of Californians and 71% of public school parents supported a Trump administration executive order that required students to participate on sports teams that matched the sex that they were assigned at birth. The eleven candidates we interviewed Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Ian Calderon, Stephen J. Cloobeck, Steve Hilton, Katie Porter, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa, Butch Ware, Betty Yee and Leo Zacky offered sharply different perspectives. Their answers generally fell into a range of responses, including those who oppose participation based on gender identity, those who support some level of inclusion with limits, those who support current California law, and those who say these decisions shouldn’t involve politicians at all. Where do you stand on transgender athletes participating in school sports? Some of the strongest positions came from candidates who believe transgender girls should not compete in girls’ sports. Hilton, a Republican candidate, argued the issue is about protecting girls’ opportunities: “It’s not fair. It’s not fair for girls who’ve worked so hard,” he said. Hilton also vowed to overturn California’s existing law. He said his legal team believes the current law violates two parts of the California Constitution: Section 28, which he described as guaranteeing “safe schools,” and Section 31, which he said “bans gender discrimination. I think the legislation has ended up creating tension and division, which shouldn’t be there,” Hilton said. “And so, I’d like to repeal that legislation.” Bianco, a Republican and Riverside County sheriff, also tied his stance to safety and fairness. “Boys should not be competing against girls. As a coach, I absolutely know that boys have no place in girls’ sports,” he said. Bianco later added that, if he were elected governor, “There will never be an 18-year-old boy walking through a 14-year-old girl’s locker room naked.” Zacky, who is running as a Republican, said the current California law is “another man-made decision” that the people “have the power to change. You’re born a boy, you’re born a girl. That’s it,” Zacky said. “Boys play with boys, girls play with girls.” Like Hilton and Zacky, Democratic candidate Clooback said that if he were elected governor, he would ask California citizens to reconsider the law. Cloobeck then emphasized biology. “I have a degree in neurobiopsychology, and I took biology and genetics,” Cloobeck said. “And I do know that XX is XX and XY is XY, and I don’t know of any way possibly to mutate those or change that. I think I’m going to sit with science.” Democratic candidate Calderon, a former state assemblymember, said he believes there is an athletic advantage with transgender girl athletes playing in girls’ sports and said, “I don’t support it.” However, he stressed that his views could shift. “I’m always willing to take in more information and have my opinion evolve over time, but as I stand now and what I’ve seen now, I do believe that there’s an advantage,” Calderon said. Calderon also highlighted the importance of compassion. “These are also kids. we really have to be compassionate and careful about how we talk about this and not demonizing them and making them feel like they’re not wanted, making them feel like they don’t matter because they do matter,” he said. Multiple candidates argued that while they oppose discrimination, they believe the governor and the legislature shouldn’t be making decisions about who plays on what team. “The governing bodies of sports should make those decisions. Why would I, as the governor, be involved in a conversation about who gets to play which sport? There are people whose job that is,” Ware said. While Porter said she is supportive of the current state law, she agreed with Ware. “These are rules that can and should be set by the governing bodies, and so in the case of California school sports, the California Interscholastic Federation should be making this decision at every level of sports competition,” she said. Like Ware and Porter, Becerra said governing bodies in sports “should decide who plays in the sport.” However, like Porter and Ware, Becerra was seemingly unaware that California already requires schools to allow participation based on gender identity. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that you are entitled to play a sport,” he said. Watts read the current law to Becerra, who ultimately supported the state law. “I’m not interested as governor in having someone be bullied or someone discriminated because of who they are, simply for that reason,” Becerra said. “And if the rules allow an individual to play in that sport, those are the rules and you should abide by them.” Thurmond, California’s superintendent of public instruction who is also running as a Democrat, strongly defended transgender students’ right to participate on a team that aligns with their gender identity. “We are a state that can accept diversity, and we will make sure that we follow the law and protect the rights of transgender athletes to participate and to be able to do so safely,” he said. Some candidates said they support transgender students’ rights but believe competitive sports present different considerations. Villaraigosa, a Democrat and former Los Angeles mayor, made a distinction based on puberty. “Men who have gone through puberty and are now transgender women, should they play other women? No, I don’t believe they should,” he said. But he emphasized that he opposes discrimination. “I will never support discrimination in any way. I believe in gender-affirming care, but I don’t believe those [trans] athletes should be playing women,” he said. Democratic former State Controller Yee spoke about how this topic is something she is still learning about. “This is something I’m going to say I’m still learning about, and where I’ve been getting a lot of my information or becoming aware of the issue more is from parents of transgender children who are in high school and college,” she said. Yee then said there are ways transgender athletes could be integrated into school sports, “like developing a separate league,” but she stressed that she would never want to “discourage their participation in athletics. To the extent that we’re still trying to really understand what this means for everyone in athletics, I would say just I want to learn more about what’s possible, but I also don’t want to have opportunities cut off for anybody,” she said. 2026 California governor candidates | Accountability Interview Series This ongoing political accountability series lets viewers compare the top-polling candidates for California governor side by side through a variety of issue-specific segments. CBS News California Investigates sat down with the 12 top-polling candidates to discuss more than a dozen issues that matter to voters. The topic-specific segments allow viewers to select the issues that matter most to them individually. The accountability-focused format pushes beyond campaign talking points to reveal how candidates respond to nuanced follow-up questions and opposing viewpoints. The first issue-specific segment, where candidates discussed California’s controversial Prop 50 redistricting measure, led to a viral Katie Porter interview clip and impacted the trajectory of the governor’s race. Porter’s response stood out not just because of what she said, but also because the unique interview format revealed how it dramatically differed from those of the other candidates. The “One Question” segments introduce voters to each candidate and provide unique insight into how they might govern, as they explain what they think the current governor and legislature did right, and what they would have done differently. The “side-by-side” issue-specific segments allow viewers to compare the candidates’ differing viewpoints and plans, focusing specifically on the issues that matter most to them. The initial topics include redistricting, reaching voters across the aisle, principle vs. politics, sanctuary state polices, health care for undocumented immigrants, and transgender athletes in school sports. Upcoming segments will feature issues related to crime & criminal justice reform, the impact of environmental laws on California gas prices, homelessness, housing affordability, high-speed rail, and more.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trans-athletes-school-sports-california-2026-governors-race/

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