Join Fox News for access to this contentPlus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.Please enter a valid email address.By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. Having trouble? Click here.California Assembly member Bill Essayli is working to get a bill passed through the state legislature that would ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. Essayli introduced the bill on Feb. 14 amid a flury of controversial incidents in the state involving trans athletes playing on girls’ sports teams. As one of the top Republicans in Sacramento, Essayli believes that the incidents have escalated the issue into one of civil rights for people of all religions in the state. “Not just for Christians, I hear from Muslims and Jewish Americans as well. People of faith have obviously strong values and morals and beliefs about there being two genders and how everyone was created by God into their perfect body,” Essayli told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “So it is partially a religious civil rights issue.” California has allowed trans athlete inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports dating back to 2014 and is currently fighting President Donald Trump to keep that system in place after Trump’s recent “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe district Essayli represents, Riverside, has been mired in one of the most nationally-visible controversies after a trans cross-country runner took a varsity spot from a girl at Martin Luther King High School, and a lawsuit was filed after administrators compared “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts to swastikas. Meanwhile, communities in San Diego, the Bay Area and those in other Democrat-run states across the U.S. have dealt with their own incidents involving trans athletes over the past year alone. Additionally, while data shows the majority of Americans, including Democrats, oppose trans inclusion in girls’ sports, most of the party’s officials continue to enable it. “What I’ve concluded is that this is part of this Marxist agenda to break the family unit and to divide students from their parents, and if the government can basically take over the role of the parent and instill the values and systems into the child, then they feel like they’ll be able to control that child for the rest of their life,” Essayli said. “I really believe this is a play for the next generation of Americans and who’s going to raise those kids and I think that’s what the Democrat party is focused on, I think that’s the long game here, they’re making a play for the next generation of voters.” Essayli added that he believes the current system is not only unfai
A California lawmaker has labeled the surge of transgender athletes as a ‘religious civil rights issue’ and has criticized Democrats for allegedly exploiting young people.
