On Thursday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon fired off a letter to California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom warning him that public ...
On Thursday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon fired off a letter to California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom warning him that public schools that permit boys to play in girls’ sports could lose federal funding.
In an attempt to mitigate his record as an ardent leftist, Newsom recently reversed himself on the issue, saying it is “deeply unfair” for male athletes to participate in women’s sports.
“An overwhelming majority of Americans agree with you that biological men in women’s sports is unfair and wrong,” McMahon wrote. “Many are confused, however, by your office’s silence on the harms of substituting ‘gender identity’ for sex in other areas of the school environment. After all, if men ‘identifying as women; shouldn’t play women’s sports, why do California schools continue to let boys ‘identifying as girls’ use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms, and sleep in girls-only overnight accommodations?”
“School personnel have no business promoting the false notion that kids can choose or change their sex,” McMahon stated bluntly. “If a child does exhibit this behavior, the school has a duty to notify parents.”
“Take a stand on your convictions,” she told the man who often takes the most politically advantageous position for his career.
Even legacy media outlets have taken note of Newsom’s recent recalibration of his “convictions.”
CNN reported last week: “Since launching his new podcast two weeks ago, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken aim at a number of causes popular among progressives: He’s rejected the term ‘Latinx,’ said he doesn’t back trans women competing in women’s sports, and suggested he opposes taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries for prisoners and detained immigrants.
“Be clear about the harms of gender confusion.” McMahon urged. “Protect female spaces. Do not encourage children to seek permanent medical interventions to their sex. Inform parents. Wouldn’t you, as a parent, appreciate knowing that your 5th grade daughter on a school trip might have to sleep overnight in rooms with boys and men ‘identifying’ as girls and women?”
She then laid down the gauntlet: “A great place to start protecting girls in California K-12 schools is to repeal Cal. Ed. Code 221.5(f) by calling on your legislature to pass AB 844. This would make it clear that California schools operate within reality and common sense. Sex-specific school programs and activities should be separated on the basis of sex, not the subjective feeling of “gender identity.’ Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on ‘gender identity’ places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding.”
“As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk,” she pointed out. “You also have a duty to inform California educators and school officials that the creation of so-called ‘gender plans’ that are kept secret from parents is against federal law.”
“If a student claims a ‘gender identity’ at school, managing this issue bureaucratically while hiding it from parents violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). More importantly, it undermines the parent-child relationship and deprives parents of involvement in a critical aspect of their child’s youthful development. This is morally wrong, and as a parent, you should be naturally appalled, as I am, by the attempt to cut parents out of their children’s lives,” she wrote.
“Will you commit to working with the legislature to reverse the law you signed banning schools from notifying parents about students’ gender identity?” she asked.