State lawmakers observe Transgender Day of Visibility. ‘They just want to live their lives.’

Sunday marks the Transgender Day of Visibility, a day when members of trans and other communities are recognized for their place in society. But during a recent California Senate floor discussion of a resolution honoring the occasion, Republican lawmakers turned it into a debate over women’s sports.

The Senate’s 32 Democrats all voted for the resolution, authored by former Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

Five Senate Republicans voted against the measure — Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones and Sens. Brian Dahle, Shannon Grove, Janet Nguyen and Kelly Seyarto. Three — Sens. Roger Niello, Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh and Scott Wilk — didn’t vote.

Atkins opened by introducing the resolution, which she said “encompasses an expansive community of people who identify as two-spirit, transgender, gender non-conforming, nonbinary or intersex.”

She added that while it is important on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, held every November, to recognize the trans people who have died in the past year, it’s likewise “critically important” to recognize living transgender people on the Transgender Day of Visibility.

She pointed out that California has elected at least nine transgender individuals, including Palm Springs City Council member Lisa Middleton, who is running against Ochoa Bogh for state Senate this November.

Many Democratic lawmakers spoke in favor of the resolution, including Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, who said that while there are many stories of people working to make a better life for themselves or their loved ones, there is a “sad and alarming” trend of anti-trans sentiment, particularly toward trans children, throughout the country.

“There are those that seek to strip members of the community of their dignity, indeed their humanity, one right at a time,” Padilla said.

Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said that 2023 was the deadliest year on record for the transgender community.

“Children are losing their lives because of the hate preached against them,” he said.

Both Wiener and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, argued that trans people have always been a part of the culture, with many religions, including Judaism, recognizing alternate genders and the transgender spectrum.

Three Republican lawmakers — Jones, Grove and Seyarto — all spoke out against the resolution, citing lines that reference trans youths playing in sports. California law protects the right of trans children to play in sports that match their gender identity.

Jones, R-San Diego, said he doesn’t support hateful speech or treatment of trans people, but said he has three children who all played collegiate sports.

“And we are seeing the impacts on female sports around the country, both at the high school level and the college level,” he said.

Jones added that lawmakers need to “come to a place where we’re protecting women in women’s sports.”

Grove, R-Bakersfield, said that “there is no room for hate” in California.

“It takes me back to a little song when I was in Bible school, it’s like, ‘Red and yellow, Black and white, they are precious in His sight,’” she said.

Grove said that “biological females” are placed in danger by having to play sports and dress in changing rooms with “biological males.”

“Let’s just face it, ladies, I mean we’re really good at what we do, but biological males are just a lot of times more stronger than us, especially in an adolescent world,” she said.

Seyarto said that he is voting no “on behalf of all the young ladies that are competing like heck to excel in sports.”

“We’re talking about kids that are in high school or college playing competitively, and that competitiveness is what’s going to get them into college,” he said.

Wiener spoke a second time to offer a rebuttal.

“We need to be very clear that the narrative that’s being painted around trans kids playing sports, as if it’s a bunch of LeBrons going to the local high school to play the high school kids. That’s what they paint it as, and we know that that is not what is happening in the real world,” he said.

Wiener said that in many cases, transgender athletes do not dominate in sports. He cited the controversy over collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas losing to Iszac Henig, a trans man. What many did not know, Wiener said, was that Henig came in fifth place while Thomas placed sixth.

“They’re not dominating, and there are plenty of examples of trans kids who compete and don’t do well and finish in eighth or tenth or twelfth place. That doesn’t make the press, that doesn’t get blasted out on social media,” Wiener said.

“Kids in general, and particularly trans kids, they just want to live their lives,” Wiener added.