California’s governor has vetoed a controversial transgender bill

California governor Gavin Newsom has once again fuelled speculation he might run for president next year with a rare use of his executive veto.

California Governor Gavin Newsom. Picture: AFP

California governor Gavin Newsom has once again fuelled speculation he might run for president next year after vetoing a controversial bill that would have required courts to consider, when ruling on custody, whether parents would ‘affirm’ the gender identity of their children.

In a rare use of his executive veto, Mr Newsom on Friday night local time (Saturday AEST) torpedoed California bill AB957 which had the overwhelming support of the Democratic Party in the biggest US state, passing its Democrat-controlled assembly 57 to 16 earlier this month.

Yet the potential law had drawn harsh criticism, including from X-owner Elon Musk, at a time transgender rights have emerged as a hot political issue nationally. “What it actually means is that if you disagree with the other parent about sterilising your child, you lose custody,” Mr Musk said on X earlier this month.

Mr Newsom’s surprise move outraged transgender rights activists but gave the second term governor an opportunity to present himself in a more conservative light should President Joe Biden, 80, ultimately not run for re-election in 2024, an eventuality increasingly canvassed by the party’s supporters.

“I urge caution when the Executive and Legislative branches of state government attempt to dictate – in prescriptive terms that single out one characteristic – legal standards for the Judicial branch to apply,” Mr Newsom said in a statement.

“Moreover, a court, under existing law, is required to consider a child‘s health, safety, and welfare when determining the best interests of a child in these proceedings, including the parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity,“ he added.

Despite the governor’s denials of any plans to run, and public support for Mr Biden and Vice President and fellow Californian Kamala Harris, Mr Newsom remains the third most likely individual to become the next president, behind Joe Biden and Donald Trump, according to political betting market PredictIt.

Mr Newsom, 55, who won re-election as governor in California with almost 60 per cent of the vote last November, has repeatedly sought a greater national profile, launching a television advertising campaign in Florida last year, urging Floridians to move to California.

More recently he has given multiple national interviews, including on Fox, to extol his record and pushed for a debate between himself and Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, which is tentatively scheduled for November.

“I have deep respect, reverence for Joe Biden, as a person… his character, his decency, and his capacity to do great things,” Mr Newsom told NewsNation last week, dismissing the idea he might challenge his party’s leader.

“That’s why. I’m not worthy of that conversation. This guy deserves it. And we, as members of the party, deserve to have his back,” he added.

The White House has asked Mr Newsom to attend next week’s Republican presidential debate to be held at the Reagan Library in California’s Simi Valley, to lead Democrats‘ political response to the event on the ground.

Joe Biden, the oldest US president, has repeatedly declared his intention to run for a second term, by the end of which he would be 86, despite evidence growing evidence that the bulk of Americans (around three quarters according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll), including Democrats, do not want him to seek another term.

Mr Newsom, a distant relative of former House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, was mayor of his native San Francisco between 2004 and 2011 ahead of his election as governor in 2019, after which he became a polarising figure on the national stage, enacting among the toughest Covid-19 restrictions in the US.

“I am extremely disappointed. I know the Governor‘s record. He’s been a champion for the LGBTQ+ community for years and even before it was popular to do so,” said Lori Wilson, the state Democratic congresswoman who sponsored AB957, in a statement after the governor’s veto.

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