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White House calls out Newsom as California girls' track and field controversy reignites

The White House just called Gavin Newsom "sick" for letting biological males dominate California girls' track, and the chaos from last year's state finals is about to repeat.

Cali Reporter staff · May 7, 2026
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White House calls out Newsom as California girls' track and field controversy reignites
White House calls out Newsom as California girls' track and field controversy reignites

The Trump White House has put Gavin Newsom on notice as California's girls' track and field playoffs begin this weekend, with a biological male from Jurupa Valley High School again set to compete after sweeping two events last season. White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster didn't mince words: "Gavin Newscum is a truly sick individual who has no regard for fairness, dignity, and respect."

California remains one of 22 states enforcing a 2013 law, AB 1266, signed by Jerry Brown, that lets students compete in sex-segregated sports according to gender identity. That policy produced last year's spectacle at the state finals in Clovis: dueling protests, an arrest after a pro-trans activist allegedly attacked a conservative, a plane towing a "Save Girls Sports" banner, and the ejection of organizer Sophia Lorey from the venue.

The same trans athlete from Jurupa Valley won first in triple jump and high jump, second in long jump. The fallout was swift. Trump's Justice Department sued California agencies for Title IX violations in July. Then in September, Newsom's Legal Affairs Secretary David Sapp emailed Jurupa Unified administrators a copy of the state's motion to dismiss that suit, an exchange later forwarded for a district meeting. The district later claimed no minutes existed from the September 12 teleconference and invoked attorney-client privilege.

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Newsom's office has maintained the governor wants debate "guided by fairness, dignity, and respect" while rejecting what it calls the right wing's "cynical attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual kids." A January statement from the governor's office insisted Sapp gave Jurupa no directives on handling the athlete or media, only a publicly available court filing.

Yet the pressure is building again. Sophia Lorey is staging another "Save Girls Sports" protest Saturday at the Southern Section Division 3 preliminaries in Yorba Linda. The Education Department opened a targeted Title IX investigation into Jurupa Unified in January, alongside 17 other institutions. Trump's own public spats with Newsom over the same athlete last year helped turn a high-school meet into national news.

The contradiction sits at the center: a state policy sold as inclusion that repeatedly produces podium sweeps, lawsuits, and public brawls, while Newsom's team insists the real problem is the people noticing. What happens when the same athlete advances again will test whether the governor's rhetoric can survive another round of visible consequences.

Original reporting: Fox News.

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