Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers on Tuesday rejected Republican-sponsored bills to limit trans high school athletes participation in girls’ and women’s sports, the latest clash in a high-octane debate that continues to divide the nation.Despite hours of passionate testimony, the outcome was never really in question in a California Legislature where Democrats hold a supermajority and Republicans possess little power. The point, for both sides, was the spirited debate that took place in the ornate Capitol hearing room Tuesday morning. Assembly Bill 89, from Assemblymember Kate A. Sanchez (R-Trabuco Canyon), would require the California Interscholastic Federation to prohibit any student whose sex was assigned male at birth from competing on a girls’ high school team.Assembly Bill 844, from Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Corona) would require students to use locker rooms, bathrooms and other facilities that match their sex assigned at birth.After the bills were introduced, Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), who chairs the Assembly’s Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee, said he decided to hold the hearing because of Republicans’ complaints that their issues were not given an opportunity to be heard in the Democratic-led Legislature.The hearing drew a big crowd of partisans to the state Capital. The conservative California Family Council called it a “Capital showdown.” By 8:30 a.m. — 30 minutes before the start time — a line snaked along the corridor outside the hearing room, and by 8:45 every seat in the hall was filled, with a raucous overflow crowd outside waiting to speak. Among the crowd were roller derby athletes, volleyball players, track stars, parents, nurses, doctors, church leaders, school board members, teachers and academics. One by one they were allowed into the hearing room to urge lawmakers to vote the bills up or down. About 800,000 of California’s 1.76 million high school students participate in school athletics. The CIF, which oversees high school sports in the state, does not keep records on how many of such students are transgender, but experts say the number is small. At the college level, fewer than 10 out of half a million athletes are transgender, according to recent congressional testimony from NCAA officials. Still, the issue of trans athletes in sports has for months been explosive in national politics. Republicans who have seized on the issue portray it as a deeply unfair example of “woke” politics run amok. President Trump cited the issue frequently on the campaign trail last year and in February signed an executive order that would “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.” Many on the left, meanwhile, say it affects a minuscule number of athletes. Instead of focusing on a real issue, they say, politicians seized on a hateful and hysterical attack on trans people to advance a larger conservative agenda. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democrat and long an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ issues, scrambled the debate when he called transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” on his podcast.Republicans have been amplifying his comments ever since. When she introduced her bill during the hearing, Sanchez quoted Newsom to illustrate that concerns about trans girls in sports were “not a fringe issue.”“Let’s be clear. It is not about hate. It is not about fear. And it’s not right-wing talking points,” she said. Sanchez, who described herself as a passionate volleyball player in her youth, talked of girls’ losing coveted spots on teams, and in some cases suffering injuries during games because of trans athletes unfairly competing against them. “This is entirely about fairness, safety and integrity,” she said. Sanchez brought with her a high school track athlete, who did not provide her full name, who told the lawmakers that her dreams of completing at higher levels had been quashed because a “biological male” on her team had beat her out.“It feels wrong,” she said. “I don’t understand how my hard work, my dedication … can be rendered meaningless.”She was among the scores of speakers who appeared before lawmakers, and when the hours of testimony were done, the elected officials voted along party lines to reject the bills. “You’re using our most vulnerable students as a political cudgel,” said Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles), pointing to studies that show transgender students are at greater risk of suicide and dropping out of school. He added that trans students have been participating in high school sports for a decade with little fanfare, but only recently has it become an issue Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), who made a surprise appearance to fill in at the hearing for an absent member, said the bills were unnecessary. “There is no epidemic of transgender kids playing basketball or soccer or any other sport,” he said. “There are more kids right now with measles in Texas than there are transgender athletes in the NCAA. That’s the epidemic we should all be worried about.”But Republicans said the issue is one of fairness, with several speakers making the point that girls are suffering as a result of allowing trans athletes on their teams. Republicans also warned that California’s support for trans athletes puts the state at risk of losing billions of dollars in federal funds because it conflicts with the president’s executive order. “There is a biological reality,” said Essayli, who pointed to a young track athlete from his district who he said was knocked out of a spot on a top team by a trans athlete. “It’s a question of fairness.”After the hearing, Republican members of the Legislature held a news conference to excoriate Democrats for blocking further debate on two bills that, they said, polls show a majority of California voters agree with. Several also said the Democrats on the committee had just put California’s education funding on a collision course with the Trump administration.“For standing up for common sense we were called Nazis,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). “What we are talking about is standing up for young women in the state of California.”
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