Ok. So what's baffling to me is how you're defending a politician that wants to exclude both of us from parts of society. Newsom is a shiftless liar that only stands for himself, but let's say that he's honest and firm about this one aspect of his political career, and won't move any further right on this topic.

He's going to ban all of us from participating in sports. Republicans won't stop there, and will use the momentum to further oppress us. Ceding to Newsom will directly result in further oppression of us.

so why are you throwing other trans folks under the bus for a barely left of center collaborator of a known neonazi

It's not just about sports. Every state that has started with sports bans has gone on to attack virtually every aspect of trans existence. Trans sports bans are unscientific - the scientific consensus is that trans women have no advantage at all in sports. Yet, Democrats like Newsom are willing to give in to this one form of unscientific bigotry. By doing so, they prove that they don't ultimately care about trans rights. Anyone who willingly gives in once to irrational, unscientific bigotry based purely out of animus will surely do so again.

And once you do that once. Once you cross that line, you are damned.

Is it rational to restrict bathroom use because some bigoted women "feel unsafe"? No, but if you've given into one form of unscientific bigotry, you'll do it again.

Is it reasonable to restrict minors from life-saving healthcare? No, but once you've decided that trans lives aren't worth protecting, then you'll do it again.

Every time Republicans decide to raise a stink in their echo chambers about some newly intolerable aspect of trans life, a Democrat like Newsom will support legislation restricting our lives out of a "reasonable compromise." They just have to get a few bigoted cis women to go on camera and say they feel unsafe, and Democrats like Newsom will support any neo Jim Crow law Republicans are proposing.

You are seriously not appreciating the grave risk of someone like Newsom. You're focused only on the election in front of you, but you're missing that we could quite easily end up with two political parties, each trying to criminalize our existence. An anti-trans Democrat winning the nomination in 2028 would do that. I'll take four more years of Republicans than having both parties be as bad as the Republicans. (And right now, Labour in the UK are just as bad as Republicans. Democrats could easily go that way.)

This isn't about sports. This isn't about just the next election. You need to learn to consider the broader picture and not just focus on the shiny keys being jangled in front of you. Short-term thinking is what's gotten us into this mess in the first place.