Gavin Newsom and the Dead-End Politics of the Sexual Revolution
California Governor Gavin Newsom is languishing in a political purgatory of his own making.
An ambitious and astute politician, the governor embarked on a media tour this month to position himself as the reigning “moderate” in a leaderless and increasingly radical Democrat party.
But the governor is struggling to reconcile his new, “common sense” platform with the progressive ideology that propelled him to prominence. The disconnect is nowhere more evident than in his shifting position on “transgenderism.”
Newsom began distancing himself from his more radical colleagues in March, when he called publicly called forcing girls to compete against boys in sex-segregated sports “deeply unfair.”
His comments effectively launched his centrist rebrand. But they also landed him in hot water with some of his most powerful supporters.
“My party was [angry], the LGBTQ caucus [was angry],” Newsom told podcaster Shawn Ryan in an interview released this week.
“I’ll never forget that meeting with my friends, furious with me because I don’t think it’s fair [to allow boys to compete in girls sports].”
Of course the LGBT caucus was angry; Newsom, a self-described “champion” of LGBT rights, has been a staunch supporter of the caucus’ agenda for more than two decades. In 2004, as mayor of San Francisco, he issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples — before it was legal to do so.
In his interview with Ryan, Newsom called it one of his “proudest accomplishments.”
The governor reconciles his long-standing support of the LGBT agenda, particularly same-sex marriage, and his new position on sex-segregated sports by treating them as two entirely separate issues.
“When you get to issues [of boys participating in girls sports], that’s no longer about celebrating [someone’s] rights,” Newsom told Ryan. “It’s about denying [other] people theirs.”
But they aren’t two separate issues — far from it. The rise of “transgenderism” is the direct result of the legalization and normalization of same-sex relationships.
Gender ideology, including “transgenderism,” and same-sex marriage both stem from the ideology of the sexual revolution, which Dr. Jay Richards describes as the legal and social “fracturing” of marriage, sex and childbirth.
Richards, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Life, describes the sexual revolution as a train traveling toward the end of a track. In this metaphor, each stop represents an increasingly radical manifestation of the sexual revolution’s core ideology.
The legalization and normalization of same-sex marriage is one such stop. At this station, the politics of the sexual revolution effectively fractured marriage and the sexual binary. The government cosigned the lie that all family structures are equally good — for society, for the health of both spouses and for the rearing of children.
The rise of “transgenderism” is just one stop further down the track. Whereas the legalization of same-sex marriage diminished the significance of male and female in a marriage partnership, “transgenderism” erases the distinctions between male and female all together.
This ideology treats men and women as entirely interchangeable. It recognizes nothing significant or unique about the complimentary construction of male and female humans. Thus, boys can compete in girls sports and children can casually flood their bodies with opposite-sex hormones.
In short, Newsom cannot logically support same-sex marriage and simultaneously oppose the participation of boys in girls sports because “transgenderism” is the logical consequence of legalizing alternative family structures.
Perhaps the governor recognizes this logical bind, at least subconsciously. When Ryan asked him point-blank if he believes an 8-year-old should be allowed to “consent” to irreversible transgender medical interventions, Newsom replied:
That’s not an answer. He never gives one, other than to say he’s still learning about the issue.
It takes no more than half an hour of reading from unbiased sources to understand the devastating effects opposite-sex hormones and surgical mutilation wreak on children’s physical and mental development. Newsom’s reticence isn’t about knowledge — it’s about ideology.
If he admits kids can’t be born in the wrong body, the ideology he’s fought for for decades will collapse. He’ll lose his voter base while trying to reach Democrats who defected from the party during the 2024 presidential election.
Where does this leave Newsom? Trapped. The politics of the sexual revolution, which made him a powerful Democrat player in California, are keeping him from seizing an unprecedented opportunity to ascend to party leadership on a national scale.
He can’t convincingly accept the moderate policy positions his colleagues have rejected after years of supporting an ideology that can only become more radical.
Additional Articles and Resources
Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage Harms Children and Society
Here’s What Happens When Good People Don’t Connect Gay and Trans Ideology
Sorry ‘Gays Against Groomers,’ But Gay Activists Helped Start This Transgender Fire
Sorry ‘Gays Against Groomers,’ But Gay Activists Helped Start This Transgender Fire — Part Two
The Two-Parent Privilege: Understanding Contemporary Family Formation
Different Family Forms Lead to Prison or College for Young Men
Important New Research on How Married Parents Improve Child Well-Being
New Paper Details ‘Emerging and Accumulating’ Adverse Effects of ‘Gender Affirming’ Estrogen
INVESTIGATION: Taxpayers Fund Transgender Experiments on Children
HHS Releases Report on Harms of ‘Transgender’ Medical Interventions for Minors
Doctor Refuses to Publish Major Study Finding Puberty-Blocking Drugs Don’t Help Children
England’s NHS Stops Dispensing Puberty Blockers for Children — Not Safe or Effective
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
