California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Tuesday that parents who want to be notified by schools if their children want to change genders have been “ginned up” by misinformation produced by Republicans and conservative news outlets.
The Newsom administration is currently suing the school district of Chino Valley in Riverside, California, over its new policy of parental notification, claiming that it violates the rights of transgender minors to “out” them to their parents.
Newsom was asked about the issue Tuesday in a live forum by Politico‘s California bureau chief, Christopher Cadelago.
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Instead of answering @ccadelago’s question on parental notification, @GavinNewsom blames the other side for informing parents of what’s happening in schools.
He also seems to acknowledge it’s unfair for girls to lose spots because they’re competing against boys. pic.twitter.com/8tFXPxSCsC
Newsom avoided the question, and expressed outrage instead at what he called the determination of Republicans to “bully” children.
“These trans kids, they just want to live,” he said.
Newsom then claimed, without evidence, that “the most likely outcome for these kids is suicide.”
He expressed sympathy for those who were worried about the effect of transgender competitors on girls’ sports, acknowledging that it was a real concern, but adding that there was an “assault on the LGBT community … [and] on these poor kids.”
Cadelago then repeated his question about the parental notification policy. Newsom said that parents had been “ginned up … there’s a lot of misunderstanding, misrepresentation out there.” He blamed Republican governors, whom he said have a “zest for demonization.”
Newsom did not acknowledge the concern among parents that their children could be encouraged, in secret, to take medical steps that would have long-term physical and psychological effects.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
