New bill aims to bar high school transgender athletes from women’s sports

A new bill introduced Monday aims to prevent transgender students in California from participating in female sports, part of a broader wave of opposition as schools and classrooms across the state enact policies protecting transgender students and athletes.

The Protect Girls’ Sports Act, introduced by Orange County Republican Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, would require organizations overseeing high school sports, including the California Interscholastic Federation, to only allow individuals who were assigned female at birth to participate in female sports.

Sanchez, a former high school athlete, said women’s sports are increasingly becoming “unfair, disheartening and dangerous.”

“Girls deserve their own space to fairly and safely compete in sports,” Sanchez said. “Over the past few years, the inclusion of transgender identifying biological males has led to avoidable injuries and deserving girls being cut from their teams. This is unjust, and I’m committed to restoring integrity to girls’ sports.”

Her office could not immediately point to instances in California where such injuries occurred.

The legislation comes as debates about gender identity and transgender students’ rights have rocked school communities and classrooms across the state and Bay Area. A teacher in Cupertino was placed on leave after discussing gender identity in a transitional kindergarten classroom and both Palo Alto Unified School District and San Jose Unified School District faced backlash over concerns about gender-neutral spaces on campus.

In the fall, San Jose State University made headlines over a controversy surrounding a transgender athlete on the women’s volleyball team. Her presence on the team sparked national backlash and led several college teams to forfeit their games against San Jose State in protest.

While Sanchez’s office said the bill would not impact college athletics, her team acknowledged that additional state or federal legislation targeting transgender students’ participation in sports could come in the near future, especially as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office later this month. Trump promised during his campaign to enact legislation that would bar transgender athletes from participating in sports and roll back transgender student protections in schools.

Trump has also promised to undo the Biden administration’s changes to the federal anti-sex discrimination law, Title IX, as early as his first day in office. The Biden administration’s new regulations changed the definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, expanding federal protections to include LGTBQ+ students. The new rules have been blocked in 26 states with injunctions, impacting hundreds of schools in California, even though it’s not among the states challenging the new rules.

Sanchez’s measure also faces significant pushback in the state legislature. Democrats currently hold a supermajority and state leaders have been vocal about protecting transgender students’ rights.

In July, California became the first state to prohibit school districts from requiring employees to notify parents if their child uses a different pronoun or name than what’s on their school record – an attempt to stop what critics call “forced outing” policies.

And a 2013 law, AB 1266, changed California education code to require that all students, regardless of gender, be allowed to participate in sports and activities and use their preferred bathrooms and locker rooms. It’s unclear how Sanchez’s bill would impact existing state education code.

“This is about more than competition—it’s about safety and fairness,” Sanchez said. “Whether it’s in contact sports, locker rooms or shared spaces, we must prioritize the physical and emotional well-being of our daughters. These policies are essential to protect the opportunities that generations of women have fought to achieve.”