Tennis legend Martina Navratilova criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the state's policies regarding transgender participation in women's sports, where another problem appears to have arisen.
Last weekend, the triple jump record was broken at a track and field at California Girls High School, sparking the latest debate on trans-inclusion in women's sports. The issue saw California preventing President Donald Trump's executive order from protecting biological men from girls and women's sports.
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Martina Navratilova at a joint press conference with Chris Evert on the fifth day of the GNP Saguaros WTA Finals Cancun in Cancun, Mexico on November 2, 2023. (Susan Murin Usa is today's sports)
Defending the fairness of women's sports, Navratilova took a shot at X's Newsom.
“Does it seem fair to me? She wrote.
The Inter-California Governance Federation was one of the US high schools that announced plans to continue allowing trans athletes to compete in women's sports despite Trump's order and the NCAA's own policy changes.
Minnesota and Maine have also joined the California stance.
Attorney General Pam Bondy warned those states earlier this week to either comply with Trump's orders or face legal action.
“This Department of Justice holds accountable states and state entities that violate federal law,” Bondy wrote in a letter originally obtained by Fox News. “It's true, we've already begun to do that.”
Bondi mentioned the Justice Department's move to Sue Illinois and New York at the beginning of February, in violation of federal immigration laws.
“We are also ready to sue states and state entities that violate federal anti-discrimination laws,” Bondy wrote.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom will be found on June 19, 2023 at Moffett Federal Airfield at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. (Getty Images)
Trump has directed the Justice Department and the Education Department to prioritize enforcement measures against the athletic association, which denies equal opportunities for girls to participate in sports and athletic events by demanding competition with boys. Trump threatened to withhold federal funds over gender participation policies from Maine schools, which sparked nausea last week with Gov. Janet Mills.
In California, Bondi said in a Department of Education's Title IX investigation into the inter-Calif. Federation of Governance, the state “should be notified.”
“If the Department of Education's investigation shows that the federal government actually denies girls equal opportunities to participate in sports and athletic events by demanding competition from boys, the Department of Justice is ready to take all the right actions to enforce federal law,” writes Bondi.
Bondy said the Justice Department “wants only states and state entities to comply with the law.”
“And federal law requires girls to have equal opportunities to participate in sports and athletic events by ensuring that girls need to compete only with other girls and not with boys,” writes Bondy.
“This Department of Justice defends women and will not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi told Fox News.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will speak at a press conference on immigration enforcement at the Department of Justice held in DC on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Cartis)
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“We will utilize all the legal options needed to ensure compliance with federal law and President Trump's executive orders protecting women's sports,” she said.
Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson and David Spunt of Fox News contributed to this report.
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