Riley Gaines, Laurel Libby rip Gavin Newsom, Hakeem Jeffries over excuses for trans athletes in women's sports
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'It certainly has turned the Democrats into a tailspin, because they don't know what to do with that,' says Rep Libby
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By 

Published March 12, 2025 7:48am EDT

As key Democrat figures throw out excuses for enabling  in women's sports, conservative critics have capitalized on inconsistent messaging.

Last week, California Gov.  on his podcast that he believes trans athletes competing in women's sports is "deeply unfair" but defended it to happening legally due to concerns over transgender people as "poor people" who are "more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression."

When House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked about Newsom's comments, Jeffries repeated the unsubstantiated claim that laws preventing trans athletes from girls' sports would "unleash" sexual predators on girls across the country. It was the same argument Jeffries provided when the House of Representatives voted to pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in April.

Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby, who has recently ascended as a key political figure in the battle to protect female athletes from trans inclusion, spoke out against Newsom and Jeffries in an interview on  podcast with Riley Gaines.

Libby said she believes that Newsom's recent comments "mean nothing."

"I don't think we're going to be seeing Gavin Newsom doing anything about it, and it's the equivalent of ‘which way is the wind blowing here?’" Libby said. "Gavin Newsom is a smart political animal, and he understands that 80% of Americans do not agree with biological males in girls' sports, so he is taking a little bit of a common sense position here.

"It certainly has turned the Democrats into a tailspin, because they don't know what to do with that."



Libby rose to prominence on the issue after a social media post in February, when she identified a trans athlete in Maine who won a high school pole vault competition as the state defies President Donald Trump's executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls' sports.

Libby was then censured for the post by the Maine House of Representatives, but on Tuesday, she filed a lawsuit against the state's House speaker to have her voting and speaking rights restored.

Meanwhile, Gaines took aim at Jeffries for his argument, which alienated multiple Democrat voters after it was pushed by him and other Democrat lawmakers, prompting some of those voters to unregister from the party.

"I assume he's insinuating that we want to inspect genitals, that's always what they go to, but again, that is absolutely not the case, that would be utterly invasive and in total violation," Gaines said.

"It would be either a birth certificate, which I don't believe is satisfactory, because in all but six states you can alter your birth certificates; cheek swabs, which we've seen in some place which is a simple saliva test to determine sex; or a routine physical, that every single athlete, I think in every single state, has to already go through anyway. So the whole ‘inspecting genitals’ thing is just silly and is totally a farce and a lie."



Both Newsom's and Jeffries' excuses have incited backlash amid a recent national uprising over the issue.

The day Newsom made his comments, California schools and residents impacted by trans inclusion in sports provided statements to Fox News Digital lambasting the governor for not taking any action over the last year to address the issue.

Stone Ridge Christian School in Merced, California, had its girls volleyball team  to San Francisco Waldorf in the fall due to the presence of a transgender athlete on Waldorf's team. It was a decision that ended Stone Ridge Christian's season because Newsom's policies forced the girls volleyball team into a situation where it would have to refuse to play to avoid compromising religious beliefs.

"What’s really unfair is Gov. Newsom letting males compete in women’s sports despite admitting that it is unfair. While it is common sense for men and women to compete on their own teams, this is especially concerning as a religious school," Stone Ridge Christian School Campus Administrator Julie Fagundes previously .





From left to right, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby and activist Riley Gaines.

After Jeffries and other House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasion-Cortez, D-N.Y., pushed the argument that the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would empower sexual predators to give genital examinations to little girls, the party officially lost some voters.

Prominent Rutgers law professor Gary Francione, a lifelong Democrat, previously  that he and others in his network unregistered as Democrats in response to the argument.

"I can say confidently of the people I know who are Democrats who I've spoken to, the vast majority of them are very unhappy about all of this stuff and feel that the party has lost its way," Francione said. "I know a couple who said they are going to ."

Trump has vowed to cut federal funding to any state or public institution that continues to let trans athletes compete with women and girls. He showed he is willing to make good on that promise on Tuesday, when the USDA cut millions in  in Maine.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
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