Tennis legend Martina Navratilova criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s insurance policies relating to transgender participation in ladies’ sports activities as one other situation appeared to come up.
A triple-jump file was damaged in California ladies highschool observe and subject final weekend, sparking the most recent debate about trans-inclusion in ladies’ sports activities. The difficulty got here as California bucked President Donald Trump’s government order conserving organic males out of women’ and girls’s sports activities.
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Martina Navratilova in a joint press convention with Chris Evert on day 5 of the GNP Saguaros WTA Finals Cancun in Cancun, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2023. (Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports activities)
Navratilova, who has championed equity in ladies’s sports activities, took a shot at Newsom on X.
“Appears honest to me, proper??? Hey gov. Newsom- @CAgovernor- this isn’t okay!!! This isn’t what one would name progressive. In reality it’s regressive AF,” she wrote.
The California Interscholastic Federation was among the many highschool governing our bodies within the U.S. that introduced plans to proceed to permit trans athletes to compete in ladies’s sports activities regardless of Trump’s order and the NCAA’s personal coverage change – which has additionally been criticized.
Minnesota and Maine additionally joined California’s stance.
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi warned these states earlier this week to adjust to Trump’s order or face authorized motion.
“This Division of Justice will maintain accountable states and state entities that violate federal legislation,” Bondi wrote in a letter first obtained by Fox Information. “Certainly, we’ve already begun to take action.”
Bondi was referring to the Justice Division’s transfer to sue Illinois and New York earlier in February for defying federal immigration legal guidelines.
“We additionally stand able to sue states and state entities that defy federal antidiscrimination legal guidelines,” Bondi wrote.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen at Moffett Federal Airfield of NASA Ames Analysis Middle in Mountain View, California, on June 19, 2023. (Getty Photographs)
Trump directed the Justice Division and the Training Division to prioritize enforcement actions in opposition to athletic associations that deny ladies an equal alternative to take part in sports activities and athletic occasions by requiring them to compete in opposition to boys. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine faculties over its gender-participation coverage, which sparked a spat with Gov. Janet Mills final week.
In California, Bondi mentioned the state “needs to be on discover,” amid the Division of Training’s Title IX investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation.
“If the Division of Training’s investigation reveals that the Federation is certainly denying ladies an equal alternative to take part in sports activities and athletic occasions by requiring them to compete in opposition to boys, the Division of Justice stands able to take all applicable motion to implement federal legislation,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi mentioned the Justice Division “solely desires states and state entities to adjust to the legislation.”
“And federal legislation requires giving ladies an equal alternative to take part in sports activities and athletic occasions by guaranteeing that ladies must compete solely with different ladies, not with boys,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi informed Fox Information that “this Division of Justice will defend ladies and doesn’t tolerate state officers who ignore federal legislation.”
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi speaks at a information convention relating to immigration enforcement on the Justice Division on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
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“We’ll leverage each authorized possibility vital to make sure state compliance with federal legislation and President Trump’s Govt Order defending ladies’s sports activities,” she mentioned.
Fox Information’ Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson and David Spunt contributed to this report.
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