Billionaire Tom Steyer wants California voters to know exactly where he stands on biological males competing in girls' high school sports: he's all for it. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate made his position plain on the "I've Had It" podcast and in a separate interview with CBS Los Angeles, dismissing concerns about competitive fairness as a manufactured political attack.
His remarks land in the middle of a crowded, volatile race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, with a June 2 primary approaching and Democratic candidates scrambling to distinguish themselves on cultural issues that have moved sharply to the center of American politics.
Steyer's framing was unequivocal. As Fox News reported, the former hedge fund manager told podcast host Jennifer Welch:
"I'm totally in favor of [trans athletes in high school]."
He then pivoted to mental health, arguing that barring transgender students from team sports would compound an existing crisis:
"When you understand the vulnerability, the stress, the danger of being a trans kid, and you understand almost half of them try to commit suicide, then you think, 'We're gonna punish those kids, we're gonna cut them off from team sport.' It's like, no we're not."
Notice what's missing from that answer: any mention of the girls who would be competing against biological males. Any acknowledgment of the physical advantages conferred by male puberty. Any recognition that fairness in women's athletics exists to protect a specific class of competitors, female ones.
Steyer went further, characterizing the entire debate as a political weapon rather than a legitimate policy question. He told the podcast audience:
"To be clear, this is not some huge epidemic. This is a right-wing attempt to victimize and villainize already vulnerable and desperate people, and my heart completely goes out to the people who are so sad, feel so rejected, and so unaccepted that half of them would try to kill themselves."
The suicide statistic Steyer cited, "almost half", has circulated widely in progressive advocacy circles. Fox News did not identify the specific study or data source behind his claim, and Steyer did not cite one in either interview. Whatever the precise number, the rhetorical move is familiar: reframe a question about competitive fairness as an act of cruelty toward a vulnerable group, and anyone who disagrees becomes a bully by definition.
That framing conveniently absolves Steyer of answering the harder question: What happens to the girl who trains for years and then loses a roster spot or a championship to a competitor with a male body?
Steyer is not the only Democrat running, and his rivals have not all lined up behind his position, though most have tried to avoid a clean break with progressive orthodoxy. The field features former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, former State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, former State Controller Betty Yee, and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Porter echoed parts of Steyer's stance, arguing that youth sports are intended to build character and teamwork rather than simply determine who is best. Thurmond reportedly took a similarly supportive position on transgender athletes.
Becerra urged officials to continue protecting certain classes in accordance with the law, a careful, lawyerly answer that commits to very little. Yee stressed the need to identify ways to promote fairness while ensuring everyone is included, a formulation so vague it could mean almost anything. Yee, notably, has since exited the governor's race under separate pressure from polling and party dynamics.
Mahan offered the most nuanced response among the Democrats. When asked about a hypothetical scenario in which a biological male played soccer against his daughter, the San Jose mayor acknowledged the tension directly:
"That would be a conversation we would have, and I can imagine it being unfair."
But he quickly pivoted to the now-standard Democratic hedge:
"But I also think that we are allowing ourselves to devolve into using that as a litmus test that is actually about demonizing difference, dividing people, scoring political points, and I'm just not going to be a governor who allows vulnerable people to be a punching bag."
So Mahan can imagine it being unfair, he just doesn't want to do anything about it.
On the other side of the primary, Republican candidates Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco have taken an unambiguous position: both support overturning existing California legislation that allows students to participate in sports based on gender identity rather than biological sex. Fox News noted that the state currently has a law permitting such participation, though the specific statute was not identified in reporting.
The contrast between the parties on this issue could hardly be sharper. Democrats in the race are threading needles, offering sympathy to both sides, or, in Steyer's case, dismissing the fairness question entirely. Republicans are saying the law should change.
That divide matters because California's jungle primary system sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party. Analysts have already flagged Democratic vulnerability in the governor's race, and cultural issues like transgender athletes in women's sports have proven to be political losers for progressives in swing districts and even in blue states where parents have pushed back.
Steyer's comments arrive against a backdrop of unusual instability in the Democratic primary. The field has already seen dramatic departures and internal party conflicts that have nothing to do with policy.
Rep. Eric Swalwell's campaign collapsed after sexual assault allegations surfaced, with Nancy Pelosi reportedly urging him to exit the race as endorsements evaporated. That implosion rippled through donor networks as well, with at least one prominent billionaire donor cutting ties with Swalwell and the Democratic Party altogether.
A May 5 debate at East Los Angeles College Auditorium in Monterey Park brought the remaining candidates together ahead of the June 2 primary, but the field remains fractured. Republican Steve Hilton has accused Newsom of stoking panic to split the GOP vote in the jungle primary, adding another layer of strategic tension.
Steyer's position is built on a familiar progressive formula: identify a sympathetic group, cite alarming mental health statistics, and then declare that any policy constraint on that group amounts to persecution. The formula works as rhetoric. It fails as governance.
No one disputes that transgender youth face real challenges. But Steyer's answer treats women's sports as a therapeutic resource for one group of students while ignoring the competitive rights of another. He calls the issue "not some huge epidemic", as if the number of affected athletes determines whether fairness matters. By that logic, a single girl who loses a scholarship to a biologically male competitor doesn't count because the numbers are small.
California already has a law on the books enabling participation based on gender identity. Republicans in the race want to change that law. Most Democrats in the race want to talk about compassion and inclusion without specifying what happens when those values collide with biological reality on a playing field.
Steyer, at least, is honest about where he stands. He's told voters he sees no problem at all. The girls who compete in California high school sports, and their parents, now know exactly what his compassion costs them.
When a billionaire running for governor can't spare a single sentence for the girls on the other side of the starting line, his compassion isn't broad. It's selective.
