(LifeSiteNews) — A trans-identifying male student is once again raking in prizes at female track meets in California. On May 23, AB Hernandez swept three events and is now heading for the California Interscholastic Federation state championship girls’ track meet for the second year in a row. He may break a female state record this time around.
Hernandez, according to Outkick, is a “5-foot-9, 120-pound senior from Jurupa Valley High School” who has “made national headlines the last two seasons while competing for the school’s girls volleyball team and the girls track team.”
On Saturday, Hernandez took first place in high jump, long jump, and triple jump, and is the odds-on favorite to win those events at the state meet this coming weekend. Hernandez has been the state champion in the high jump and triple jump twice – in the girls’ category.
Predictably, the parents of girls are outraged. “I have a son, and I would never let my son compete against my daughter,” a high jump mom told OutKick. “Especially in a sport that’s already been decided is an all-girls sport.” A former California track official told Fox News that the competition was “a farce.”
Jennifer Oliver, the mother of Camarillo sophomore Nieve Oliver, who was kept out of the top spot by Hernandez, was also upset. “The adults need to make the right decision here. Period. Hands down. And so far, that’s not happening,” she said. “Thank goodness high jump is not a contact sport. My daughter plays girls flag football, too. I’m very concerned that if there was an issue like this in flag football, I don’t think I’d let her compete. It wouldn’t be safe.”
In fact, in order to avoid the potent specter of males standing atop the female podiums over the girls, the California Interscholastic Federation has actually created a ludicrous rule mandating that in the final rounds of state track meets, any trans-identifying male who wins must share his top place on the podium with the highest-placing girl. This rule underlines the problem rather than addressing it.
“If you have to create a shared podium for the boy competing in the girls’ event, you’ve already admitted you know he isn’t a girl and that his participation is unfair,” former swimmer Riley Gaines noted on X. “At that point, you’re just seeking a public humiliation ritual for the girls.” When Hernandez took the podium on Saturday, loud boos could be heard from the crowd – even though he shared it with girls.
The new podium rule is truly cynical, because the only effect it actually has is to avoid handing those who oppose males in female sports the powerful visual of male athletes towering over their female counterparts.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been utterly dismissive of the concerns of girls and their parents.
“The Governor has said discussions on this issue should be guided by fairness, dignity, and respect,” a vague statement released by Newsom’s office said. “He rejects the right wing’s cynical attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual kids. The Governor’s position is simple: stand with all kids and stand up to bullies.”
To dismiss the concerns of mothers like Jennifer Brown as the fulminations of an angry right-winger seems a dangerous political strategy to say the least. Previously, Newsom had appeared to acknowledge that the issue was toxic for Democrats, agreeing with Charlie Kirk during a podcast discussion that trans-identifying males competing against females was an issue of “fairness.”
Meanwhile, Hernandez is racking up victories over the girls in direct contravention of Donald Trump’s 2024 executive order titled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” which reads in part:
It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.
A lot of girls and their parents – many speaking anonymously to avoid attacks by LGBT activists – are hoping that the EO will soon take effect in California.
