A new bipartisan survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found the majority of California residents oppose biological male trans athletes competing in women's sports.
That figure included more than 70% of the state's school parents.
"Most Californians support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching the sex they were assigned at birth," the poll stated.
"Solid majorities of adults (65%) and likely voters (64%) support requiring that transgender athletes compete on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with. An overwhelming majority of public school parents (71%) support such a requirement."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted trans athletes competing in girls sports is "deeply unfair" during an episode of his podcast last month but defended allowing it out of empathy for the transgender population.
The state was one of the first to defy President Donald Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order when he signed it Feb. 5.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state's law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
"The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student's gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student's records," a CIF statement said.
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A law, AB 1266, has been in effect since 2014 and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."
California Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as "a person's actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person's perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person's sex at birth."
On April 1, the state assembly and its Democratic majority struck down two bills that would have amended the laws to only allow student-athletes to compete based on their biological sex.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon served a warning to Newsom to comply with Trump's order barring transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. The warning and investigation come after California made itself the first "sanctuary" state in the nation for transgender minors and has engaged in a multi-year battle with school districts over their notification policies.
"Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on 'gender identity' places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding. As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk," McMahon wrote in the letter.
"As Secretary of Education, I am officially asking you to inform this Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal law by protecting sex-separated spaces and activities. I am also officially asking you to publicly assure parents that California teachers will not facilitate the fantasy of 'gender transitions' for their children."
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