California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has launched an attack on rival Xavier Becerra’s position on transgender athletes, seeking to win support from Hispanic voters and women.
In a new Spanish-language campaign advertisement aimed at Hispanic voters, Hilton accuses Becerra of “extremism” for supporting the participation of transgender boys in girls’ sports.
The ad portrays a muscular transgender soccer player with a mustache forcing his way past younger girls as one of their fathers watches helplessly from the sidelines.
The scene then shifts to an AI-generated depiction of Becerra laughing as he watches the match. The ad blames him after one of the girls is shown suffering an injury on the field.
The campaign marks a new avenue of attack for Hilton, who has made an extensive effort to reach Latino voters. Hispanic voters account for roughly one-third of ballots cast in California.
Hilton told The Post: “I felt it was important to make clear to Latino families that what they’re seeing in their kids’ schools is not some natural disaster that is impossible to prevent.”
“It is the direct result of Democrat politicians actions – Becerra supports all this extremism and would make it worse.”
“Everywhere I go in California, I hear incredibly strong concerns from Latino parents about what’s going on in our schools.”
“They’re desperate for someone to help them push back against what they see as crazy, fringe ideologies that go against their deepest beliefs and values.”
“One of the biggest concerns is over sports and locker rooms, where the vast majority of parents and kids just want to see a level playing field.”
“The kind of ideological extremism we’ve seen pushed into schools is especially infuriating to parents as they see schools doing a worse job on the basics of what they should be delivering: a decent education.”
“Nearly two thirds of Latino students in California do not meet basic standards for literacy. Why aren’t the politicians focusing on that?”
The advertisement opens with a father whose daughter is shown playing soccer against a transgender athlete.
Set in East Los Angeles, the video shows a coach encouraging one of the players by saying: “Give it everything you’ve got.”
One of the girls’ fathers asks the coach, “Who is that?” The coach replies: “A new starter; she came out as a girl last week.”
The ad then shows a transgender player with long hair and a prominent mustache standing over the ball before dribbling past girls who appear much smaller.
The player pushes past three of them before one falls to the ground, clutching her leg in apparent pain.
The footage cuts back to the distressed father, who asks: “Who allowed this?”
An AI-generated image of a smiling Becerra then appears on the field. “That was me,” he says in the ad. “I fought for boys to play in girls’ sports, and I will continue to do so as governor.”
The father responds, “But they’re getting hurt.” Becerra then says, “I’m sorry,” before the video ends with the father shouting toward the sky in frustration.
Becerra has continually upheld anti-discrimination laws, civil rights and deferred to government sports bodies on the transgenders in girls sports during his time in office.
He backed the 2013 California law AB1266, which allowed public school students to participate in sex-segregated school programs based on their chosen gender identity.
While serving as President Biden’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, he supported interpreting Title IX and federal civil rights laws to include protections based on gender identity.
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He argued against state-level bans that stop transgender kids from participating in school athletics or receiving gender-affirming care.
In a brief interview in the summer supporting trans high school athlete AB Hernandez, Becerra said: “Trans people are people, and as governor I will use every power of that office to protect their rights.”
“I’ve been on the right side of these fights long before it was popular — in 1996, I was one of only 67 in Congress to stand up against the Defense of Marriage Act. I’ll always choose the right side of history over the easy side.”
Early in the governor’s race last November, he also said on the subject: “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that you are entitled to play a sport.”
“I’m not interested as governor in having someone be bullied or someone discriminated because of who they are, simply for that reason.”
“And if the rules allow an individual to play in that sport, those are the rules and you should abide by them.”
The Spanish-speaking advert comes as Hilton and Becerra still fight for the vote from key demographics, including the vital Hispanic group.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Sept. 24 showed Becerra leading Hilton by 25 points, widening his August advantage of 18 points, when he led 55% to 37%.
Nine percent of the 4,512 registered voters surveyed remained undecided.
But a poll commissioned by Hilton’s campaign and conducted by pollster David Wolfson on Oct. 1-2, surveyed 1,020 California voters and found Becerra with 45.7% to Hilton’s 40.1%, with 14.1% undecided.
The transgender in girls’ sports argument has ripped across the nation but particularly in California where biological men have been dominating at the youth level.
Trans track and field athlete AB Hernandez has been front and center of the fury after dominating at high school level in the Jurupa Unified School District.
The 16-year-old has been on the podium for wins in high jump, long jump and triple jump in the CIF State Track and Field Championships this year, sparking outrage among parents.
Last month a conservative think-tank predicted transgender athletes have stripped women and girls of nearly 2,300 golf medals and more than $500,000 in prize money over the last 40 years.
Athletes competing in sports events that do not match their birth sex have bumped biological women out of championship spots 2,293 times since the mid-1980s, according to Concerned Women for America.
The group also found that trans athletes, who were born “male,” have “stolen” $501,498 in prize money from women and girls in professional sports.
For the report, the think tank analyzed data from a HeCheated.org, a volunteer-run online database that documents instances of trans women athletes participating in female sports events.
In total, it reportedly found they have competed in more than 14,301 female sporting events, including amateur and professional.
US attorney Bill Essayli said he has prosecuted and fought hard defending Title IX, which bans any discrimination based on sex schools that receive federal money.
He told The Post: ”California’s policies have been to ignore woman, girls and parents’ rights in favor of a radical political ideology.”
”There have been actions at California schools that allow children to transition to other genders when their parents are not aware. That is illegal.”
”No-one is saying trans girls can’t compete; but they should compete with those who share their biology. They shouldn’t get to deprive girls of their chance for trophies or for scholarships to suit your political cause.”
Becerra’s office has been contacted for comment.
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