News
By Michael Hernandez, 3-19-25
CALIRED NEWS–President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order of Feb. 5 on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” (signed surrounded by young female athletes) has generated diverse responses from Maine’s Governor Janet Mills (unequivocally opposing) and California’s Governor Gavin Newsom Gavin (“shocking” support “on the issue of fairness”) as reported on This Is Gavin Newsom March 6 podcast.
President Trump’s Executive Order “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports”
President Trump Executive Order states (Section 1): “In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports, is hereby ordered…under Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972, educational institutions receiving Federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports. As some Federal courts have recognized, ‘ignoring fundamental biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities.’”
“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
(Editor’s Note: To read the entire Executive Order which has five sections, go to: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/.)
Democrats Block Senator Tommy Tuberville’s Bill to Protect Female Athletes
U.S. Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote March 3rd for Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act that required 60 votes to proceed. The bill failed 51-45. HIs legislation would have required federally-funded institutions to keep men out of women’s sports, locker rooms, and other spaces designated only for females.
According to Senator Tuberville: “Over the past four years, women’s sports and women’s protections, at all levels, have been under attack. Since the beginning of time, people have agreed that sex is assigned at birth and determined by God. But under (the) Biden administration, you had people claiming that men can get pregnant. Pure, absolute insanity. But it didn’t stop there. They weren’t content just to erase gender norms that had been accepted for thousands of years. No, they wanted to allow trangender men to participate in women’s and girls’ sports. This has been happening at school all across our country.
“Young women have been forced to compete against men and even to share locker rooms and shower time. And on top of that, your taxpayer dollars are paying for it. Thankfully, President Trump signed an Executive Order–he said, ‘no more, no more federal money to any state that allows this to happen” But you have to understand, this only lasts as long as President Trump is in office. This Executive Order that he signed can be reversed.
“Congress needs to act on this to protect women’s sports to ensure Title IX protections are preserved. The Protection of Women and Girls’ in Sports Act would make sure women’s rights to equal competition, equal scholarships, safe locker rooms, and that they are protected. This legislation has already passed the House (Jan. 4, 2025) just about a month ago with two Democrats actually supporting it. I appreciate the support of all my Republican colleagues on this.
“At least 900 medals (the Daily Signal has reported 1,121 medals in 43 sports) that belonged to women have gone to men just over the past few years of men competing against women. If polling is even close to correct, 8 out of 10 of your constituents do not want men competing against women (a Jan. 19 New York Times poll).”
(Editor’s Note: June 23, 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX becoming law. Not one Democrat Senator voted to Protect Women’s Sports From Males. The Senate bill did not advance but got stuck and failed to break filibuster.)
Maine Governor Janet Mills Defies Executive Order; Claims Compliance
Maine’s Democrat Gov. Janet Mills responded after Trump’s executive order that her state would not comply with banning biological males who identify as transgender from women’s sports.
Following President Trump’s Executive Order on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, Maine officials publicly said they would not comply with the order, siding with transgnder-identifying males over women and girls. A University of Maine System (UMS) official stated that schools were “in compliance with relevant state and federal laws and that UMS universities are members of the NCAA.”
Maine’s Democrat Speaker Ryan Fecteau censured Republican State Representative Laurel Libby for her efforts to keep boys from participating in girls’ sports which resulted in a lawsuit from Rep. Libby with all the state’s federal judges recusing themselves from hearing the lawsuit. Rep. Libby generated Fecteau’s wrath for sharing on her social media accounts the example of one young man who tied for fifth place in male pole vaulting competition one year only to win the female event the next year as a girl.
Trump Administration Cuts Funding to Maine Universities
The Trump administration on March 10 ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to pause federal funds to the University of Maine System (UMS) over the state’s refusal to protect women’s sports. The eight public colleges of Maine have an enrollment of nearly 30,000 students. The USDA awarded as much as $29.78 million to UMS in 2024.
Meanwhile, on March 17, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that Maine violated federal civil rights law by allowing males to play on female sports teams. This finding came after a transgender-identiying boy claimed a victory in the Maine Class B championship for the Greely HIgh School girls’ track and field team in February.
Anthony Archeval, Acting Director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS, said: “The Maine Department of Education may not shirk its obligations under Federal law by ceding control of its extracurricular activities, programs, and services to the Maine Principals’ Association. We hope the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely HIgh School will work with us to come to an agreement that restores fairness in women’s sports.”
California GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Ban Transgender Girls From Women’s Sports
California Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) introduced AB 89 “Protect Girls Sports Act” that would ban transgender girls from women’s sports in January and that would require high school sports to align with biological sex.
“Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest levels are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair–it’s disheartening and dangerous,” said Sanchez.
(Editor’s Note: To read AB 89 go to:
https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB89/id/3040030.)
Currently, the California Education Code requires schools to allow students to compete on teams and use facilities aligning with their gender identity. The California Family Council and others argue that the law unfairly disadvantaged girls in competition and compromises their safety and privacy.
The California Interscholastic Federation–a state athletic association–stated Feb. 7 that they would not follow President Trump’s Executive Order on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” but would continue to allow students to participate in school programs and activities consistent with the student’s gender identity.
When Title IX was enacted in 1972, only 1 in 27 girls participated in organized sports. Today, that number is 1 of 3, representing decades of progress. Advocates warn that California policies jeopardize these hard-fought gains by allowing biologically male athletes to dominate female sports.
The debate intensified after a lawsuit was filed by two teenage athletes, Kaitlyn and Taylor, of Martin Luther KIng HIgh School in Riverside that were censored for wearing T-Shirts that read “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense” messages advocating for competition based on biological sex. The schools Assistant Principal Amanda Chann likened their shirts to Nazi swastikas.
Women In Sports Gets Boost From California Governor Gavin Newsom “On Fairness” Issue
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) admitted to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk that the Democrats have taken wildly unpopular positions on certain issues — such as men competing in women’s sports — but will continue maintaining such losing stances as a matter of “principle.”
“I don’t mind losing. Sometimes you lose on principle,” the California governor told Kirk during the March 9 episode of the This Is Gavin Newsom podcast (the Governor’s first podcast). Newsom was specifically referring to his unwillingness to agree with Kirk that men should not compete in women’s sports, arguing that for him, it is a matter of “principle,” not politics.
“I deeply am mindful of the politics of this, which are very unhelpful personally, and unhelpful more broadly and professionally to the Democratic Party and our brand,” Newsom added. “The Democratic Party brand has just been crushed.”
Earlier in their conversation, Kirk had urged Newsom to “step up” and say “no” to male athletes participating in female sports, to which the California governor replied by admitting he “completely agrees” with the TPUSA founder “on the issue of fairness.”
“It’s deeply unfair,” Newsom said, adding that, nonetheless, he cannot take the stance that biological men should not participate in women’s sports. The governor explained his position: “On the issue of fairness, I completely agree. So that’s easy to call out — the unfairness of that.”
(Editor’s Note: CaliRed is a weekly column posted on Making California Red by the 2026 elections through reaching Gen Z (ages 13-28), Hispanics, and Christians with biblical traditional values and their pastors.)
Michael Hernandez, is co-founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service and writes for CitizensJournal.net. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of the weekly column “CaliRed News” on Substack.com and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and monthly “Election 2026 Countdown.” Mr. Hernandez mentors citizens journalists/podcasters and can be contacted at [email protected].
